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Comment Re:Awful (Score 1) 951

I am constantly having to dig for simple crap like "crop"

I don't think I've ever inserted a picture using 2007, but that sounded like crap to me. I loaded up Word 2007, dragged a picture into the document and looked at the ribbon tabs. I saw one had a pink "Picture Tools" annotation and lo and behold, Crop is the largest button on the entire toolbar.

Here's a screenshot for anyone who would otherwise happily believe what I think is baseless complaining.
http://imgur.com/9Um3d

Facebook

Facebook Knows When You'll Get Dumped 474

Pickens writes "Cnet reports that according to a graphic making the rounds online that uses Facebook status updates to chart what time of year people are splitting up, there are three big spikes on the calendar for breakups — just after Valentine's Day, just before spring break and two weeks before Christmas. British journalist and graphic designer David McCandless, who specializes in showcasing data in visual ways, compiled the chart after scraping 10,000 Facebook status updates for the phrases 'breakup' and 'broken up.' 'Might I suggest that, immediately after Valentine's, some women might be casting men from their sight, appalled that their lovers could think of nothing more romantic than roses from the supermarket and dinner at Outback Steakhouse,' writes Chris Matyszczyk. 'Continuing with this obviously accurate analysis, perhaps it's men who do more of the dumping just before spring break, as for some —however unfairly — their main concern lies in how their girl will look on the beach.'"

Comment Re:What is very sad (Score 2, Insightful) 194

You misunderstood the GP's post. He's expressing dismay that someone must overstep the mark, as ambiguous as it is, before proceedings can be brought and a judge can rule on whether the defendant acted unlawfully. What he's suggesting is that there ought to be a way for either the police, an independent body or perhaps an individual to identify ambiguous areas of law, that exist because of a changing world or otherwise, and seek clarification from a judge as to how the law should be interpreted.

Whether this is in fact impossible under the current system, or whether his proposal would be unworkable, I could not say.

Comment Re:I would complain (Score 2, Interesting) 408

No, it's not a user's job to give developers a way to monetise their product, but I also think we have a responsibility not to remove such methods.

I use NoScript and explicitly whitelist reputable advertising agencies. I had Adblock Plus installed for a time, but only to hide distasteful images. I rarely click on advertising, but every couple of months an advertisement will spark my curiosity. I have a hard time believing many users who install these types of addons never do the same thing. I also contribute to the websites statistics, which may or may not help a webmaster negotiate with advertisers.

I routinely ask the question, "what if everyone did it?". In the case of ad removal, there would be quite serious ill-effects: I would much prefer to consume ad-supported content than pay subscription fees.

I'm a little uncomfortable with what the NoScript author has done, but as far as I'm aware, there is no viable alternative.

It must also be pointed out that, if Microsoft were to behave in a similar fashion, many here at Slashdot would find it hard to contain their disgust.

Comment Re:So user generated content is not any good? (Score 1) 290

[BritainsSoTalented] is the most subscribed channel on youtube.

No it isn't. It's the most subscribed channel this week and that's because the television series begun three days ago. Judging by username alone, all but two of the top 26 channels (based on subscription count) are not based on or part of traditional media.

Censorship

UK To Mull High Video Game Taxes — To Fight Knife Crime 615

chareverie writes "The Prime Minister of the UK is being urged to impose high taxes on violent video games in an effort to reduce the number of knife-related crime. The request comes from Richard Taylor, who argues that young people 'feel that the law has no control over them. They just feel that they can go on the streets and do whatever they like.' He doesn't have a definitive number on how much to tax on the offensive video games, but says that they should be 'very high.' Rap music is also voiced to be a concern due to the alleged negativity and language. Taylor's son, Damilola Taylor, was killed in November 2000 at the age of 10 by knife stabbing."
Cellphones

The Realities of Selling On Apple's App Store 223

Owen Goss writes "Everyone is familiar with the story of the iPhone developer who spends two weeks of spare time making a game that goes on to make them hundreds of thousands of dollars. The reality is that with the App Store now hosting over 25,000 apps, the competition is fierce. While it's true that a few select apps are making developers rich, the reality is that most apps don't make a lot of money. In a blog post I take a hard look at the first 24 days of sales data for the first game, Dapple, from Streaming Colour Studios. The post reflects what is likely the norm for developers just getting into the iPhone development game."

Comment Re:Could rewrite, EU tries to kick Americans out. (Score 1) 112

Of course the widespread prevalence of wrongdoing doesn't excuse Microsoft's transgressions - whatever they may be, but I'm willing to bet that most of those who cut their nose off to spite their face by foregoing the use of Microsoft tools on moral grounds, are happy using banks, cars, chemicals of all kinds and are perfectly content in consuming the products of multinational corporations. The criticism Microsoft receive in certain circles is grossly disproportionate.

Comment Re:Could rewrite, EU tries to kick Americans out. (Score 1, Informative) 112

Microsoft is one of 59 members of the Association for Competitive Technology
[1]. The only victim here is the readership of Slashdot. There is a concerted campaign here to slate Microsoft regardless of any basis in reality.

Wikileaks claims the president of the ACT has strong ties to Microsoft, but only provides the ironically named, unsourced open-access Wiki, SourceWatch[2], as evidence for this latest smear campaign.

This is not the work of Microsoft. This lobbying was perpetrated by the software industry in general. People round here fail to see, for reasons unbeknown to me, that Microsoft is not exceptionally evil as corporations go.

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