Comment I would love to connect my landline... (Score 1) 435
It just doesn't seem to be worth my time and money. Why didn't they upgrade their infrastructure years ago?
It just doesn't seem to be worth my time and money. Why didn't they upgrade their infrastructure years ago?
For that reason, I've been sticking to MS Office 2003. It's clear, it's reasonably simple, and most importantly, it's the way I expect things to work. So if OpenOffice actually maintains this style of GUI, and MS doesn't, then this is one of the most convincing reasons yet to use OpenOffice.
And yes, thanks for Anti-Aliasing of figures, this is great. One of the worst things about MS Office is the horrible integration of EPS files into MS Word documents: They only show up as a horrible preview, which appears to be just the opposite of anti-aliased: Extra-crude and jagged. I don't know why they did that (licensing, I presume), but it makes it annoying to work with EPS files, which publishers often request in the authoring process for printed media. Here, the horrible rendering quality and lack of anti-alias is an obvious weak spot in MS software.
Similarly, I like Adobe Illustrator very much for two simple reasons: it uses anti-aliasing during the drawing process, and it has "intelligent" snap-to guides and points. This makes the on-screen work pleasant to look at and intuitive to interact with. Compared to that, many 2D CAD programs suck because they don't use anti-alias during the creation/drawing process, and your work looks "crude" by comparison.
An pleasant-looking GUI and intuitive interaction are major usability factors. In the 3D world, I like Alibre Design for that reason, which has snap-to and click-select-edit abilities in 3D similar to Illustrator in 2D, and yet still makes it easy to work with precision: You create your rough shape(s) with the mouse in a few clicks, and then fine-tune things like exact dimensions, chamfers, etc. with a combination of mouse and keyboard. All the while, your piece of work is pleasantly rendered, drag- and rotate-able in single 3D window.
OpenOffice with good object rendering (full anti-alias, hopefully also good EPS support) and intuitive interaction (classic menus, transparent shapes for dragging, etc.) sounds like a very attractive package.
Was it Sony?
BOOM!
The problem is that once the information is open, you no longer control it. You do NOT have a say in how it will be used.
I'd much rather have control over my information, just the same way I dislike DRM because I prefer to have control over the DVDs I buy.
Not having a right to privacy would suck just as much as not having the right to buy property, or not having the right to work. It would make you more of a sucker, who is less in control of his own life, and who is more dependent on the goodwill of those who are more powerful than you.
On the other hand, I think the right to privacy could be revocable. For example, if someone has committed a *major* crime, I think it would be fair to openly strip them and their associates of the right to privacy for an appropriate number of years, so that additional crimes from that general group of people can be better prevented.
In that sense, what has been done to these MIT students should be a prophylactic punishment that is reserved for individuals who are highly likely to commit serious crimes. Call it the 24-hour virtual citizen's watch.
As long as we're going to reinvent the wheel again, we might as well try making it round this time. - Mike Dennison