Messages

101

Living Room / Re: Help Me Find My Memory Leak

« on: September 26, 2007, 12:57 PM »

Easy Detection of Memory Leaks
You'll have to register to download the project.

102

General Software Discussion / Re: 13 Reasons Why Linux Won't Make it to a Desktop Near You

« on: September 19, 2007, 09:22 PM »

Thing is I'm not out to bash Linux, people that are happy with it then all the more power to them.
I just think there are too many obstacles to keep it from becoming a viable alternative to Windows and I just don't see that changing anytime soon.

103

General Software Discussion / Re: 13 Reasons Why Linux Won't Make it to a Desktop Near You

« on: September 19, 2007, 01:29 AM »

Well see that's where you lose the proper perspective.
Computers are becoming consumer based, not just for "power users or businesses" (although businesses is IMO a stretch because businesses especially would want a no hassle simple to use interface/OS, anything more costs in production and support).
The ideal situation for any OS in the future IMO is all about plug and play, and that is what M$ is aiming for.
Think about it, what percentage out of say 360 million potential users really care about tweaks and searching for drivers?
Your talking about a very small percentage out of millions of possible customers.
I'm old enough to remember when color televisions were pretty high maintenance.
You couldn't even bump one with a vacuum cleaner let alone move it without a service call.
Ain't that way anymore, the market ...the money, wants to move in that direction with modern computing also.
I also remember working with intel's 4040 and 8080, lot a stuff has changed since then.
Just what I'm doing right now was no more than science fiction then.
Linux is a long way from dominating and unless it become very consumer friendly really quick 20 years from now it'll be a curiosity.
Just like Old televisions.

And you know what? You don't even have to take my word for it, I have no dog in this hunt. It's just that I have seen OS's come and go over the last 30 something years and Linux has never inspired me much as being a real alternative.
I maybe wrong but really, how much headway has it really made?

104

General Software Discussion / Re: 13 Reasons Why Linux Won't Make it to a Desktop Near You

« on: September 19, 2007, 12:25 AM »

Lotta people talk about Linux but the truth is it will always be a stunted child. The reason is that computers are no longer the exclusive domain of computer geeks and nerds.
The market, the money is in mainstreaming OS's so that casual users can get online, chat, surf, write blogs, play games, share media and view porn without tweaks or complicated instructions.
When or if Linux can do this on install then it might make a dent, until then it'll always be a toy......nothing more.

105

General Software Discussion / Re: Find me a problem solving corpus. I'm willing to pay $100 for each one you find

« on: September 16, 2007, 01:01 PM »

Hehe,
You oughta take a shot at Second Life.
If you can get log files from there it'll keep you busy for years. They have different ways to access the Grid maybe you can find something of interest there.

106

Basic / Re: What flavors of basic?

« on: September 11, 2007, 08:58 PM »

Target, I would highly suggest you to avoid IONICWIND, their website, forums, applications because after all you get is grief!

I think this indicates a mindset out there that is a little unseemly, programming languages are tools. No more and no less, it's one thing to be loyal too and enjoy a particular flavor/style, but it's another to be a rabid fanatic in thrall to a specific language and it's users and developer.
The mindset has become infested here too, and in reality it becomes a turnoff for a lot of people.
No one programming or scripting tool "speaks" to everyone, that's why there are so many out there.
Anyone who allows themselves to be captivated by this kind of mindset only to become bitter over the experience have only themselves to blame.
Use the tools you like and IMO respect the choices of others, if you like a particular tool but are turned off by the community then find another or create your own.
Coding/scripting is supposed to fun for the coder/scripter, just think how many potential learners become turned off by the continual trash wars that are out there.

And also think about the consequences when the much ballyhooed clique favorite doesn't "speak" to a newbie, instead of finding an alternative they are possibly just fading away in frustration, and all the rest of us are poorer for it in the loss of a future application or clever snippit that could have been shared.

107

General Software Discussion / Re: Stay Away From Microsoft VISTA

« on: September 02, 2007, 02:17 AM »

Hehe....
It's worth blogging about.
Has Microsoft finally gone to far with Vista?

I haven't taken the plunge into trying out Microsoft's Vista OS yet. Mostly because I'm too cheap to switch right now plus I just really like WinXP pro.
But you can google "pros and cons" and find all kinds of opinions about this operating system and what people hate and like about it.
I've been reading more about personal experiences as opposed to what the major software writers have been putting out there.
The Elder Geek has a nice article on the practicalities of installing Vista but mouser at Donationcoder has some practical advice based on direct experience:

108

General Software Discussion / Re: Anger Management: living with Windows XP + lot of software

« on: August 30, 2007, 10:11 PM »

Wow,
I just don't understand why so many people report problems with Windows XP.
I've been using it for over 7 years and have never had the problems everyone else seems to have.
I use a registry cleaner once a month, scan for virii every night, clean my hard drive when I feel like it and have had very...very few problems.
 

109

Living Room / Re: A joyful addition..

« on: August 27, 2007, 11:24 PM »

Just in case anyone is interested, I've been married twice, producing 5 children.
All adults now, so if anyone needs to know, I happen to have a passing idea about what causes those things. 

110

Living Room / Re: Problem Windows Genuine Advantage

« on: August 25, 2007, 08:35 PM »

This is possibly a more recent update from the source linked above.

Update: Word from Microsoft is that this problem has been fixed, and all users affected should revisit the WGA site and re-validate. There's no explanation as to why Microsoft was originally telling people to wait until Tuesday, but the good news is that the problem has been solved.

-http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070825-windows-genuine-advantage-suffers-worldwide-outage-problems-galore.html

Thanks for the heads up Cpilot.

-Eóin (August 25, 2007, 08:02 PM)

Caught it before I did.  

Thanks for the update.

111

Living Room / Re: Problem Windows Genuine Advantage

« on: August 25, 2007, 05:14 PM »

Wonderful! Thanks for alerting us to this, cpilot  . I guess the best advice right now is to stay away from any downloads/installations that require WGA do its thing; it's too risky right now.

-Darwin (August 25, 2007, 03:34 PM)

There's supposed to be a fix by Tuesday (Sept. 28) but then again by what I'm reading M$ isn't sure what the problem is....so who knows?

112

Living Room / Problem Windows Genuine Advantage

« on: August 25, 2007, 03:13 PM »

Microsoft's WGA not validating

Started seeing this being reported around the web. OS's affected are WinXP and Vista.

113

Living Room / iPhone Hacked

« on: August 24, 2007, 10:53 PM »

iPhone Hacks

Well it looks as if the exclusivity between Apple and AT&T can't survive the world of cyberspace. Three seperate hacks for the iPhone are now available with 2 claiming to be software only.

114

Living Room / Re: Acceptable expletives

« on: August 24, 2007, 07:03 PM »

What's wrong with "poopie"?
As in "aww, poopie, I screwed up the $%#@mn &@#kin' thing again". 

115

Post New Requests Here / Re: Silly Idea? A program that counts out loud

« on: August 23, 2007, 10:59 PM »

Hey Cpilot, they have a code block for FBSL too (in case you didn't already know).

-fowmow

No I didn't fowmow, I'll check it out.
Usually I just open an instance of notepad and throw a script together.

Thanks for the Link to the FBSL ONLINE STUDIO COMPILER, I'd lost it actually. 

116

General Software Discussion / Re: Avoid: Jriver Media Center, if you believe in your right of free speech

« on: August 21, 2007, 06:14 PM »

My point is that it's somewhat spacious for someone to go to anothers paid

spacious, specious - who's really paying attention... Certainly not me. I'd be the last person to start arguing semantics here!

Sorry, couldn't resist!

-Darwin (August 21, 2007, 05:45 PM)

Yeah well, what's  an e or a among friends?

117

General Software Discussion / Re: Avoid: Jriver Media Center, if you believe in your right of free speech

« on: August 21, 2007, 03:42 PM »

I'm not arguing whether their policies are moral, ethical or even if I personally care about it.
My point is that it's somewhat spacious for someone to go to anothers paid for website and expect them to allow any postings whatsoever and if they don't declare it a violation of "free speech".
I notice there isn't any viagra, porn or "male enhancement" posts here, and yet no one sees that as a violation of "free speech", I'm sure the spammers would like to be able to make a "free speech" argument also.
Like it or not the owner of a forum or website is entitled to determine it's content.
If users don't like the way it's administered they are free to go elsewhere.

118

General Software Discussion / Re: Avoid: Jriver Media Center, if you believe in your right of free speech

« on: August 21, 2007, 11:46 AM »

Why do you believe that you have an expectation of free speech on a venue that someone else is paying for?
Someone who pays for the web space and bandwidth on a server has a right to determine what they'll allow or not allow, a free speech violation is when the government tells someone what they can allow/disallow on a forum, not what the owner determines his forum is for.
I think most people would expect a forum that is set up to discuss a specific commercial product would be biased towards that product.
It wouldn't be financially prudent for the people selling the product to have postings of other cheaper priced or free products littered around their forum.

119

Post New Requests Here / Re: Silly Idea? A program that counts out loud

« on: August 21, 2007, 12:01 AM »

In FBSL

Code: Text [Select]

1. $apptype console
2. Dim %t
3. Dim oSpeak = CreateObject("SAPI.SpVoice")
4. ?"Close console to quit......."
5. for t = 0 to 15
6. CallMethod(oSpeak,".Speak %d",t)
7. next
8. ReleaseObject(oSpeak)
9. Pause

Here it is with the dreaded Microsoft agent:

Code: Text [Select]

1. '$apptype console
2.  
3. dim %oAgent,%oCharacter,%objRequest,%t
4.  
5. oAgent = CreateObject("Agent.Control.2")
6. PutValue(oAgent,".Connected %b",TRUE)
7. CallMethod(oAgent,".Characters.Load %s,%s","Merlin","merlin.acs")
8. oCharacter = GetValue("%o",oAgent,".Characters.Character %s","Merlin")
9.  
10. CallMethod(oCharacter,".Show")
11. CallMethod(oCharacter,".MoveTo %d,%d",500,300)
12.  
13. CallMethod(oCharacter,".Play %s","Confused")
14. For t = 0 to 15
15. CallMethod(oCharacter,".Speak %s",$t)
16. next
17. CallMethod(oCharacter,".Hide")
18. While GetValue("%d",oCharacter,"Visible")
19. Sleep(250)
20. Wend
21. ReleaseObject(oCharacter)
22. ReleaseObject(oAgent)

120

Living Room / Re: Thoughtful Article: Blogging Ethics: When And What Should Bloggers Disclose?

« on: August 05, 2007, 07:38 PM »

There's my point then, it's not really necessary for Daily Kos or Michelle Malkin to disclose their political affiliation, it's evident by their writings.

(you know I did manage to present an example without displaying any bias, the discussion is after all, about disclosure in blogs.....not politics)

121

Living Room / Re: Thoughtful Article: Blogging Ethics: When And What Should Bloggers Disclose?

« on: August 05, 2007, 06:46 PM »

I don't know, if your being paid to shill for someone then I think disclosure is appropriate.
But if your blogging because you feel passionate about something, and most bloggers blog because they do, then your position should be apparent by the posts.

Say your a democrat and your reading a political blog post and finding yourself agreeing with the points presented, why would it matter if the person who wrote it was a republican, socialist or a libertarian. Would disclosure of that make the points you agree with less relevent?

122

Living Room / Fair Use

« on: August 01, 2007, 11:08 PM »

Fair use and the Web

A little opinion and a couple of interesting links on Fair Use.

123

Living Room / Re: Google in Sicko Storm - Welcome to democracy google style

« on: July 13, 2007, 06:16 PM »

Let me add something i think is important for this discussion:

Most of economic theory seems to be based on the presumption of a fairly rationale (in terms of their self interest) and informed public.

One of my biggest concerns about the world we live in is that the commercial marketplace has their hooks in every level of power in our society, and is set up to distributed advertising/propaganda/misleading information in an incredibly effective fashion, and leveraging every innate weakness of the human psyche.

In such a situation, it's my belief that the normal controls that a "free marketplace" might excercise are ineffective in practice.  You don't get the benefits of democracy if most of your population is not informed about the issues.

-mouser (July 13, 2007, 05:32 PM)

The tools for the population to be informed are already out there if that population chooses to be informed.
The problem isn't different companies trying to spin favorable opinions about their products, they exist to make money. It's no different than when someone goes to a job interview and inflates their resume' to spin their abilities in a more favorable way, how many times you think someone would hire you if you emphasize your negative characteristics?.
The problem is the decline in critical thinking skills, the ability to determine absolutes with society emphasizing relative thinking over logic.

If someone feels that a product, service or idea is garbage they are put into a position to defend that feeling by others who are always pushing to "see it from another angle".
The problem is looking at issues from a relative position, no one nowadays is allowed to have an absolute opinion on anything.
People are susceptible to marketing because society is wishy-washy.

124

Living Room / Re: Who is more corrupt?

« on: July 10, 2007, 01:16 PM »

Banks and other finacial institutions, without a doubt.
'Zombie' debt is hard to kill

Today, however, collecting on old debts is a rapidly expanding industry. Aggressive companies can buy charged-off credit card accounts from the original lenders for pennies on the dollar or less. Then, they use credit-scoring and other new technologies to identify which debtors are most likely to pay. The players in this "junk debt" market range from fly-by-night outfits to well-established companies funded by Wall Street investors.

125

Living Room / Re: "Decrapify" your PC

« on: June 26, 2007, 09:16 PM »

Good software. For all the people buying Dell and similar it's an excellent tool.

Glad I buy computers in parts!

-Lashiec (June 26, 2007, 01:15 PM)

Lots of folks ain't talented enough to roll their own, me I'm just too lazy , it's one tool among many.
Besides, I also like the name.