Posts by Cameron Colley

Re: Can't afford Windows 7

"I can't afford Windows 7 for my gaming usage." yet you could afford the games? You knew over 5 years ago that XP support would end but you didn't put a dollar a week away?

Yes, I appreciate none of us have much money nowadays but claiming that you play games but can't afford $200 over 5 years plus seems a little strange.

I also don't see how your earthquake recording OS has any bearing on your gaming OS?

Re: We'll be needing more prisons, then

It will just be used when the police cock up. If they arrest somebody because they believe they have pirated software or child pornography and it turns out they don't a quick internet history search will give them something to prosecute for so they don't look bad.

As I understand it that's why laws are left nice and loose and open to interpretation -- so that everyone is guilty of something if needs be.

Re: What's allowable in references.

I don't doubt that, theoretically, an honest reference is allowable.

I've been told that the largest law firm on the world doesn't give out references for support staff [don't know about legal] other than the "yes, he/she worked here" type though, so I would think very carefully before writing a reference for anybody.

Re: Merely a gesture

"and I suspect a large portion of their innovative minds are dedicated to moaning about how terrible life is living in a modern 1st world country, or some such. "o I'm so fucking miserable and hard done too and the world's so shit" or "don't worry I'll over come my hardship of having free full time education until the age of 18 and an nhs that will heal me, and all the other really difficult things in life""

Dear AC, please fuck off with your pathetic "ooooh, I care about the the poor starving millions" bullshit.

The relative lack of starvation and the disease control of the Western world do not stop people from having difficult lives or, indeed, suffering from mental illness.

That's not to say that every whiny emo ponce out there has a pint but to invoke starvation and disease in the rest of the world to belittle artistic output and suggest that a millionaire cannot have a stressful life or suffer from depression or just plain heartache is as pathetically wishy-washy and bullshit as the worst teenage pity poem. Well, worse actually since hormones are bastards as we all know and teenage suicide is very real.

Re: Well, I know which manufacturer not to buy form then.

"So where do you get your ethically pure phone from?". Good question, but it certainly isn't the land of the hypocrite.

Re: How would the professor know though?

I never said the professor was completely wrong. Also I think you'll find Al Capone was a shit businessmen -- even Jimmy Carr knows to hire a good accountant -- and he actually made no money due to dire business errors. Most criminals are the same -- apart from those who spy on their customers illegally for governments.

Still doesn't answer my question as to why I should follow the advice of a man who has no experience in the field? I know not all millionaires are dicks but, unsurprisingly, a lot of dicks have been a lot more successful than a random academic.

If I want advice on how to be a professor I'll ask a professor if I want advice on how to build a Business I'll ask a successful businessman.

May I ask the successful milionaire business people who voted me down why I ought to listen to somebody who hasn't made it rich?

Re: The Indomitable Gall

"Anyone who claims they're atheist on intellectual grounds is deluding themselves -- one way or another, we've all been acculturated."

Only morons are like that. The rest of us make our own minds up whether we end up agreeing with our friends and family or not. Only the ignorant do not constantly question their own beliefs and values. You do hear of priests and vicars (and just normal churchgoers) who have decided they're atheist because their constant scholarship meant they lost their faith.

The same goes for other beliefs too, of course, whether it be in Socialism, Capitalism, AGW or anything else you care to think of.

Our whole lives should be spent being open to change and receptive to new ideas.

Re: "We are sorry for ANY impact"

It reminds me of "... Your call is important to us..." when, surely, a less defensive (so more believable) way of putting it is "... Your call is important to us..."?

It's almost as if they want you to know they're lying and they couldn't give a shit.

Re: keen.

"Quite frankly, I am amazed that there are people so lazy or lacking of taste so severely as to voluntarily forgo the joy of eating proper food in favour of drinking that baby-milk formula for adults"

It amazes me that some people assume the whole of humanity is as able as themselves in every respect. It amazes me that some people think their second-rate cooking is worth the time and effort just to get some fuel. It amazes me that some people are so rich in time and money they assume everyone can afford to taste the best food in the world without making some sacrifices.

Not all of us are rich, successful gourmet chefs -- some of us can't eat what we love every day and, instead, choose to fuel our bodies whilst we save the time and money to enjoy things.

Re: And more importantly...

Mouse and keyboard to control video from my PC? Why would I do that when I've a perfectly good iPad that makes a good trumped-up remote control (and not much else)?

Re: we don't need a start menu/screen that takes up a whole screen

"You can't use any apps while the menu is open so why not use the screen to display more things at once?"

Bullshit. Or am I imagining reading email or monitoring a script's progress whilst opening the start menu? Am I imagining watching video or using Skype while the start menu is open?

Re: Laurence Fox!

If it's male talent you want how about Jack Davenport?

Re: Confusion

Good thing you weren't learning to ride a motorbike -- I'd hate to think how you'd turn up to your CBT...

Re: Bah!

"Perhaps the root cause of this "poor design hitting one in the face again" issue is people's idiotic tendency to anthropomorphize machinery."

In case you're not aware smarter people than you or I have been anthropomorphising computers for many years. If you want to go ahead and call people like Bill Gosper and Richard Greenblatt idiotic though go right ahead...

Re: I call BS...

Exactly. This is about the control channel not the infection channel.

The annoying thing is it is, in my opinion, still rather a cool idea (if not completely obviousness) that could have some fun, non-malicious, applications.

Re: Beer!

I want Aass aaS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aass_Brewery

Re: Am I missing something?

Well, yes, I am aware of the proposals for DRM and the fact that they have not been accepted. However, it appears that Robin Aldenhoven is not as he seems to think that DRM is included in HTML5 for some reason.

So either I am better informed than somebody who should know better or he knows something the rest of us don't.

Re: What do people do on these OS's?

Well, I'm sure I'm not an average user but what I do is:

Web browsing + posting/commenting.

Email.

Watching video from a variety of sources (DVD, iPlayer, etc.).

Some games (Alien Arena, Nexuiz et al).

Second Life, sometimes.

Run VMs with other distros, Windowses, web servers and the like for practice/fun/helping friends.

IRC, occasionally.

Skype, rarely.

Google Earth.

A few more things I can't recall.

A couple of friends record their music using Ardour and other Linux based software. Apparently there are companies selling audio software for Linux and the Linux Audio community is huge including people who only use FOSS and those who will use proprietary also if it works for them.

Re: Ooh...

Lack of trackball may be a deal breaker fro me too.

I'll have to find a demo model in a bricks-and-mortar store and see whether it's as bad as I imagine having to prod a piece of dirty glass in precisely the right place to get things done. If it's anything like the iPad for text selection and link-clicking I'll likely not be buying one. It's a great shame as I've been holding out for one for a while now hoping it would be a traditional Blackberry with a funky new (for Blackberry) OS.

Re: I happen to have experience transporting radioactive material across international borders.

@tabman: Sadly El Reg don't sell them any more as the store has closed. I think searching fr "tritium keyring" might show something up on google though.

@Yet Another Anonymous coward: It was attached to my keys -- even went through US security with it.

Re: Probabliy better understood as...

"Corporate capitalism" is a contradiction in terms. What we have is not capitalism but corporatism -- sadly these thieves are branded as capi8utalissts when they are demonstrably not. Corporatism is tribal fascism and has nothing to do with capitalism.

I am in agreement also.

I have been known to buy a woman a drink or two or a meal for the pleasure of their company for a little while. If nothing else it allows one to brush up on the conversational and flirting skills. When you're socially inept that's practice that's well needed and can actually pay off.

Re: VirtualBox Guest Additions

Your point about the repository ones being older is a good one.

On my install using Jockey to install the guest additions lead Ubuntu to choose the wrong resolutions for my monitor and it was only by deactivating the drivers from the repository and installing the ones from Virtualbox itself* that i was able to get the proper full-screen mode working.

*a very easy procedure of selecting "Install guest additions" from the Virtualbox media menu, clicking OK in Ubuntu, entering your password then rebooting for changes to take effect).

Re: Tap Water.

Did you do any research?

http://www.idealspain.com/pages/information/water.html

I know the above is only one link or opinion, but the general impression seems to be that Spanish tap water varies from good, through "a little manky, but safe" to "possible pesticide contamination". Meaning it's hardly picky to talk about bottled water as a necessary precaution rather than a silly affectation.

I'm willing to bet that other first world western countries have worse water quality than Spain.

Re: Transfer rate.

I'd like some more information also. Otherwise I'd say it's just people doing it wrong:

http://www.google.com/search?q=windows+8+slow+transfer+speeds&btnG=Search&hl=en&gbv=1

Re: There is more to Linux than Ubuntu

I have to agree there are better choices for boards like this and the Pi than Ubuntu. For starters with something this low powered you'd expect to be using LXDE, [black|flux]box or even XFCE rather than Unity. Heck, can Unity even run on something with less than 2GB RAM?

I would guess that's why Raspbian seems to be the default choice for the Pi.

@dogged Re: The end of Project Sputnik?

That being my point. Sputnik was a lever to get something out of MS, was the deal on embedded licenses it?