Has anyone made a custom Group Policy template file (.adm) for Firefox? I've never needed one and I haven't googled for it now - I'd be very surprised if no-one had done this, at the very least for proxy settings etc.

I realise that tools like rsop.msc would show the firefox settings only as custom registry settings - no biggie though, and you would always push the ADM out to workstations if this became a problem (easier than updating the install itself, and I can't really think of a major reason to bother with this - still an option though if necessary for some reason).

Sometimes though it is easier to use a logon script to set up anything that is a preference, if you only have a few settings - for example, block internet except through the proxy, and if the user messes with it/breaks something then they log out/in which we all tell users to try before they call anyway.

You really have to wonder what's going on behind the scenes in some of the database-backed apps that we interact with daily. There are plenty of PHP monkeys that concat SQL to parameters. But there are plenty of others that have just never thought about locking. Or have it wrong. There are subtle concurrency bugs all over the place - the database usually handles it well enough that many developers just never catch on.

Ooops, forgot to mention that your point 2 was quite right though - it's still no protection against rubber hose cryptoanalysis. Although, you'll look relatively innocent in that you're just a "random person" carrying a spare card or two for their digital camera, which would hopefully make you relatively unlikely to get tortured. Even in America.

I'd just point out that the storage and use of it in the case of the shuttle is in a very limited sense in the external tank used immediately after they turn the ground based cooling system off. It's used so quickly that losses are in effect minimised

Another example of "unconfigurable" is file rename behavior in Nautilus. Click-to-rename behavior (like in Windows) was implemented once, but was later removed completely rather than making it a configuration option.

You can actually tell the difference between 25% and, say, 12.5% on that ridiculously small meter you get from the task manager?

As a driver, cyclist, and pedestrian when possible, the "stay off the road" remarks are really short sighted.

Why do you assume there is someplace to walk besides the road? In today's "car" world many small towns (i.e. population 10k) do not even bother building sidewalks, or the ones they have are 80 years old and unsafe (nothing wheeled like bicycles or wagons can traverse the offset cracks).

In one nearby community seeing wheelchairs, baby strollers, and kids walking on a five lane 45mph road is not unusual, as the local politicians didn't bother spending the money for sidewalks when they expanded. Our town just ripped out some aging sidewalks and put grass back, leaving only the road to walk on, stating they did not have the funds to replace them. Most of the local kids (including mine) still walk to school here, so they have no choice except to walk on the streets. Not everyone lives in a walkable community like New York.

'real' university labs are nothing like 'timmy tries chemistry' playsets ... mind that

Apple sells a fucked-over, incredibly latency-enhanced version of an operating system first sold on 68k machines more than superficially similar to macintoshes (even used ADB) on which it was fairly responsive. They sell it to you on PC clones whose claims to fame are a pretty case, and the ability to mostly correctly run Apple's antique-but-revised operating system. Apple is marketing. You never hear about who designed an Apple motherboard, and you never will, but you often hear about who they've hired to produce a case. Google, on the other hand, is about software. They're going to make sure that the technical people are involved, because they want to get things done.

Now why exactly would Google need to do that? Apple fucked up, either by accepting it or by rejecting it later. They should reimburse their customers.

Australia is indeed an island, being a landmass completely surrounded by water within the boundary of a single tectonic plate. Yes, some people claim that nothing that big can be an island; I'd be curious how many of them are from Greenland. :)

Personally, I would enjoy being a billionaire coder, though I'd also involve myself in a lot of philanthropic work. That much money could do a lot of good.

You broke the spell with "people need to be educated."

The problem is that people actually work pretty hard to not learn things. Knowledge is seen as a burden and a responsibility and they don't have time for it. And I'm not going to rant about the masses being a bunch of stupid sheep either, because frankly, there are times when I agree with the people on this. While I am perfectly capable of fixing and repairing nearly everything I have ever come in contact with, there are times when it is simply more appealing to pay someone to take care of things for me. Not only am I released from the burden of thought and knowledge, but of responsibility as well! Now I can point fingers at someone else when it goes wrong.

And that is the problem that we, the people, are literally asking for. It would be nice if people accepted the good old days when you had to learn to use something because even though it was a burden, they knew more about what they were dealing with and how to deal with it better. Those days are gone. And we know we can't trust companies to be benevolent. Their interests will always come first. Their partners' interests will come second, third and fourth. The law will come in fifth and the user comes in somewhere after that. We know that companies are willing to upset the law and the user in order to make profit. We know that companies are willing to upset the law and the user in order to appease a partner. We know it because we have seen it already. And we know that business most always sides with the government before it will side with its customers... been there and done that too right?

If there is any education that people need, it is that their [dollar] votes are all being cast in the wrong way. And by voting with their dollars spent, they are perpetuating the problems we all face. The nice thing about voting with dollars is that failure to vote doesn't mean some jackass will get into office... it just means they get less capital with which to continue abusing the public. But right now the public is pretty well hypnotized. They think they need to buy everything on credit and worship the "credit score god." They think they need to buy the latest versions of the latest tech without the slightest bit of understanding of what they are buying or how it benefits them. The sneeches all want stars on thars and that's all they care about.

So trusting someone standing in street corner handing out software is supposed to be...safe?

I think this is a lesson in buying an extended warranty if the manufacturer warranty isn't long enough.

Not only is it impossible to know beforehand if manufacturer warranty is long enough, but buying extended warranty rewards bad quality.

Otherwise you're gambling - those things see a lot of use and get very hot, especially if you're buying the launch model without the refinements of newer ones. I don't know if I can blame Sony when they are offering a fair price repair alternative - repairs aren't free!

If a game console overheats from playing a game, then clearly the console is defective. Selling a defective product is always the fault of the manufacturer. So yes, Sony is to blame - assuming, of course, that this is an actual issue and not Microsoft propaganda as some have suggested.

It's simple economics - what does the consumer want?

Something that works as promised.

The risk of having to repair at cost or buying a new (perhaps improved) one, or insurance against paying for repair when they are buying a new and complex technology.

This isn't ancient Rome, and "buyer beware" is long obsolete. Besides, the idea of paying "insurance" to the manufacturer least whatever you're buying breaks within weeks of purchase (as has happened with Xbox 360) sounds like blackmail to me. "Nice console you have there, wouldn't want anything bad to happen to it.

You can bet that this system was going to be offered with XP, but "something happened". The 4GB model is more than large enough to handle it. Even the 2GB would have room for XPe and some apps.

They pretty much do; The 701 is a sort of triumph of stuffing intel chips in small packages. You don't do a design that deviates so far from the reference design without some guidance. ASUS has been doing this stuff for a long time... with intel.

I'm using Jolicloud which like UNR uses some daemon to strip the decorations off too-large windows. Lots of them still won't fit, of course.

I've got lots of apps that work fine at 640x480. This is great when video has failed and you're trapped in VGA mode. Tabbed dialogs have really made this EASIER than it used to be in the past.