Recent Posts

901

Living Room / Re: 50 Places Linux is Running That You Might Not Expect

« Last post by zridling on March 24, 2010, 09:35 PM »

Despite its mini status on the desktop, Linux is certainly all around us, in phones, cars, planes, embedded devices, toasters, robots, etc. It's a great thing to be able to select which parts of the kernel you need only to run your particular device. No marketing campaign, it just works.

902

Living Room / Re: Help needed from USA to buy a book.

« Last post by zridling on March 24, 2010, 05:23 AM »

Thanks Deozaan! It's ordered and as soon as it arrives, it will be shipped out to Australia. Glad to help a fellow DC'er! 

903

Living Room / Re: Help needed from USA to buy a book.

« Last post by zridling on March 24, 2010, 02:42 AM »

I could do that. Just give me the Amazon URL, I'll order it and ship it the same day I receive it. PM forthcoming.

904

Living Room / 50 Places Linux is Running That You Might Not Expect

« Last post by zridling on March 24, 2010, 02:39 AM »

Far from being a fringe OS, here are 50 Places Linux is Running That You Might Not Expect divided by categories.

905

General Software Discussion / Re: Dell: No refunds for Linux users who reject Microsoft's OS EULA

« Last post by zridling on March 22, 2010, 02:16 AM »

Dell does sell machines without Windows, at a cheaper price, so you are being charged for Windows when you buy a Windows machine. That being said, if you don't want Windows, don't buy a Dell with Windows, and save some money and not deal with the hassles of fighting with Dell to get a refund on the unwanted OS.

-app103 (March 21, 2010, 11:35 PM)

Yea, but they don't sell all their machines as an option to ship without Windows. The point is that Dell is not honoring Microsoft's EULA for Win7, which applies to OEM machines. And yes, I agree. I've never bought a Dell. Like Apple, you buy a Dell and do what you're told. Otherwise, the customer should just shutup and go somewhere else.

Yea, that makes buyers feel good.

906

General Software Discussion / Re: Dell: No refunds for Linux users who reject Microsoft's OS EULA

« Last post by zridling on March 19, 2010, 11:05 PM »

I'm always amazed at the excuses people will make for Microsoft or Apple. Agreed, I'd never buy such a machine, as there are a variety of Linux vendors for those who want to go that way. But they don't come with "PAY US MONEY UP FRONT" frauds. Imagine if a restaurant said the same: "I don't care if the teenager in the kitchen spit on your steak, sir, you ordered it, and we've already charged your credit card. If you don't like spit on your food, don't eat here!"

No integrity. No principles. No honor in that position.

If all sales are final, then have the guts to say so up front, in writing, rather than playing one excuse off on the other party -- "It's Dell's policy, but Microsoft's fault," or "It's Microsoft's policy, but Dell's fault." If your word is no good, then what this looks like is theft. The article says it's $115, but even if it's $3, stop charging someone for not using it if you refuse to ship the system without a OS. Pretty soon we're justifying Lehman Brothers, AIG, and Citigroup behaviors -- Pay me for robbing you. ha!!

907

General Software Discussion / Dell: No refunds for Linux users who reject Microsoft's OS EULA

« Last post by zridling on March 18, 2010, 11:56 PM »

Even if you never use Windows nor want to, Dell will not enable your legal Microsoft refund of Win7.

"By using the software, you accept these terms," it reads. "If you do not accept them, do not use the software. Instead, return it to the retailer for a refund or credit." UK-based school teacher Adam Drake recently tried the same Windows rejection trick. But his effort to secure a refund was in turn rejected by Dell. According to a company support rep, Drake was not entitled to a refund because his copy of Windows 7 was included with his machine for free. "The one that was charged to you is just for shipping and handling so that means you got the Windows 7 for free," the rep says. Presumably, the rep is mistaking Drake's copy of Windows 7 - which came preloaded on his system - with the Windows 7 upgrade kit that OEMs provided with Windows XP system around the time of the new OS's launch last fall. Drake made multiple efforts to convince her that the OS actually costs money and that he was indeed entitled to a refund.
__________________________
Ah, yes. This is the reason I don't buy commercial vendor systems. Even if I'm honest and agree not to use the software, I still have to pay as though I will use it. Go figure.

908

Living Room / Re: How the big boys win the race for most popular website and rake in the dough

« Last post by zridling on March 18, 2010, 11:05 PM »

Maybe those of us in what's left of the Middle class should form a corporation so we could get better treatment in court and from the political class!

909

Living Room / Re: C-Span Finishes Project to Put Full (US Govt) Video Archives on the Web

« Last post by zridling on March 16, 2010, 11:51 PM »

OMG, no ads! Nice layout, too.

910

Living Room / 35 Beautiful Photography Websites

« Last post by zridling on March 16, 2010, 11:45 PM »

Smashing Magazine posted an incredible list of 35 Beautiful Photography Websites.



I'll add that one of my favs for large photojournalism is the Boston Globe's Big Picture site. The web may be bad for print newspapers, but it's been a boon for photography.

911

Living Room / Re: Stephen's Weekly Tech News - Edition 5

« Last post by zridling on March 16, 2010, 11:20 PM »

"Obama to 'aggressively protect' intellectual property"
__________________
As the EU overwhelmingly trashed it, Obama was one of the few supporting it. From Glyn Moody:

One of the most dispiriting aspects of the ACTA saga is that practically everything has been conducted behind closed doors. What we know is largely from leaks and a few, costive hints from officials when they deign to let us little people peak behind the curtain for a millisecond or two.

http://www.computerw...=14&entryid=2846

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Living Room / Re: Donationcoder: How did you find it + What has your experience been like so far.

« Last post by zridling on March 16, 2010, 11:16 PM »

I googled text editors and found mouser's timeless mega-review. I saw this guy loved software and was serious about quality. I was hooked and wanted to be a part of this place from then on.

913

Living Room / Re: Will you miss newspapers when they're gone?

« Last post by zridling on March 15, 2010, 09:18 PM »

Hand-me-down furniture won't exist in the future in the same way. Our culture (I'm talking about US and Europe here) is too much based on disposable. Not to mention built-in-obsolescence.

-Carol Haynes (March 10, 2010, 10:12 AM)

Besides our obsession with novelty (always chasing the latest new thing or fad) as one of my all-time favorite Brits, Alfred North Whitehead pointed out in the 1920s, I think obsolescence is the bane of modernity. Projects like the Data Liberation Front try to counter the trend. I'm sure we'll soon see the day when books and music will have limits on them, such as, "You have 180 days to read this [e]book; after that, it is digitally erased from your collection via DRM."

914

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by zridling on March 15, 2010, 08:58 PM »

Kids who say "like" in every sentence. I want to stab my ears with pencils.

915

Living Room / Re: First compelling reason to switch to Windows 7

« Last post by zridling on March 14, 2010, 08:32 PM »

Allow me a predictable retort. Why is this a compelling reason to upgrade to Win7? Why not another OS altogether? Not making assumptions, but I don't understand the inevitability of sticking with Microsoft after XP or Vista.

916

General Software Discussion / Re: Software with odd or insane license plans.

« Last post by zridling on March 12, 2010, 01:22 PM »

Funny how donationware and free software makes you feel good about using it, but that kind of licensing is just too much trouble. Holy smokes.

917

Living Room / Society Doesn't Know How To Deal with Abundance

« Last post by zridling on March 11, 2010, 11:47 PM »

via techdirt:


Abundance breaks more things than scarcity does. Society knows how to react to scarcity.

[Critics] claim that content creators and the like shouldn't even try to shift over to the new models while the old models still have some life in them or while the new models aren't really well proven. There's this belief that they can hang onto the old, and gradually add some elements of the new, and then eventually make the jump. But, what Shirky points out more eloquently than I ever could, is that much of the new stuff is really incompatible and very much in conflict with the old. If giving away your content increases new opportunities, how do you square that with an old business model that was built entirely around the scarcity of content?

No one doubts that this is difficult, and at times requires a big leap of faith. But there's no question that there are many things today that are abundant, where they used to be scarce. And that presents a huge challenge. Yet, time and time again, we've seen that when something becomes abundant it is not a bad thing -- but an opportunity to do something even larger. It's just that it's incredibly difficult to do that if you're still hanging on to the old ways.
____________________
Clay Shirky makes some good points on key issues concerning content "creators" using an analog/20th Century business model: their last best hope is to expand copyright to the point of making as many things illegal as possible, criminalizing common behaviors. There's too much content, too much freedom online, and too many people creating content for them to make money in their old analog economic models.

918

Living Room / Re: Excellent creative career self-promotion guide free for limited time

« Last post by zridling on March 11, 2010, 10:51 PM »

Great find, 40hz! This book is far better than I expected. Fascinating stories, great tips, and plenty of real-world examples.

Donation made for the free PDF version.

919

Living Room / Re: Pirate vs. Paying Customer illustrated

« Last post by zridling on March 11, 2010, 10:45 PM »

Score one for the good guys in Europe:
European Parliament votes 663-13 against ACTA
http://www.euractiv....greement-news-326215

Just FYI: Obama supports ACTA (boo! dude, boo! The US is its main pusher.)

920

Living Room / Re: Ars Technica on the problem with adblocking

« Last post by zridling on March 11, 2010, 10:39 PM »

But wait, if the ad never loads and is blocked from starting, how am I consuming their bandwidth? Effectively all I'm loading is text and a header file. No matter the site or its subject, content is king. Always will be. Like modern DVDs (pirate vs. paying customer), if you're going to frustrate my consumption of your content with ads, then -- for me -- your content is not worth reading.

921

General Software Discussion / Re: Flash vs HTML5. Is Flash really the CPU hog that Apple says it is?

« Last post by zridling on March 11, 2010, 12:41 AM »

Speaking of HTML5, here's how to take advantage of it, along with some demostration sites:
http://www.infoworld.com/print/115611

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Living Room / Re: Ars Technica on the problem with adblocking

« Last post by zridling on March 11, 2010, 12:28 AM »

I certainly tend to hang out at ad-free sites, be they tech, political, food, chess, home improvement, or porn. If I must "pay" for content -- even by the simple action of a click-through -- I'll go somewhere else. Nor will I pay for content unless it's something worth my attention, such as a Linux Journal magazine subscription that includes the web content.

My personal hell is going to a store or restaurant with music playing. I don't need your music to buy a hammer or to eat a burger. I don't watch any sporting events live, instead I use the DVR to skip the 2.5 hours of commercials to see the 60 minutes of play. Same goes for sites with flashing and animated ads. (Heck, I even turned off avatars here at DC because too many people were using animated ones which I find distracting when I'm trying to read.)


Necessary or not, web ads are as annoying as Clippy once was!

Nor do I need your ads to read your [ars] content. News, and in this case, tech news, is replicated in seconds and can be found on dozens of other sites. The NYTimes.com is more famous for its plagiarism and poor fact-checking than unique content. If I visit, Adblocker is on full slay mode. If you can't make enough money in other ways -- as harsh as this sounds -- find a new model or do something else for a living. I'd like to get paid to philosophize, but outside of a university (or Plato's Academy), I don't know anyone who would pay for it. If you want cash, just ask. If I have it and I want your content, I'll gladly share some coin.

923

General Software Discussion / Re: Chrome OS preview looks pretty cool

« Last post by zridling on March 10, 2010, 09:20 PM »

Thanks Deozaan, I'm eager to try it out. Why is FTP the one thing people skimp on?!!

924

General Software Discussion / Re: Which Linux For Non-Techie Windows Users?

« Last post by zridling on March 10, 2010, 08:50 PM »

I would never put linux on a non-techie machine.... Flexibility makes it possible to break the system in creative ways. There are errors that would take hours of reading and days of troubleshooting to fix, even for an advanced user.

-urlwolf (March 10, 2010, 09:22 AM)

I also disagree. You can easily lock down any GUI elements you choose and hide all system folders. I don't expect a non-techie to be using powerful BASH commands or scripts. Same for the file managers. Software installation is automatic and impossible to screw up if your repository only includes the STABLE versions.

Buggy software. It's the norm. Not the exception. Add shared libraries, and the situation gets harder. Plus of course, even the more recent distros will have outdated software for fast-moving targets. Trying to have the latest version of everything (easy on win, as long as you like to click 'next') is extremely hard and dangerous.

-urlwolf (March 10, 2010, 09:22 AM)

Which buggy software? The apps within KDE 4.4 are a rock. I presume you mean apps used under Wine or Crossover Office? Or perhaps just some sloppy ports. For example, I consider Picasa a very sloppy port though many swear by it (I don't know why). I won't challenge your laptop statement since drivers are still not shared openly from the hardware companies.

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General Software Discussion / Flash vs HTML5. Is Flash really the CPU hog that Apple says it is?

« Last post by zridling on March 10, 2010, 08:38 PM »

Sarah Perez reports on Apple's claims against Flash and compares the two. She also gets to the crux of the matter here: