Posts by joed 827 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Jun 2013
? It may be just because I'm predominantly a Windows user and my macOS exposure is only on the support side (likely still more in depth than that of average Mac user) but I'd not call File Explorer trade for the Finder an upgrade. What a mess (other that proper file search that MS can't grasp and keeps trying to shove in Bing instead).
Well, not even 20 years ago the green team was offering chipset for the red team that implemented some form of network firewall. The execution was imperfect and they discontinued software support for this product before pulling out completely from the x86 chipset business. I'd like to know if any of that legacy has lived on.
My thoughts exactly (I've learned about this process while listening to a podcast). The whole concept seems to be dubious idea/investment for so many reasons. The only viable option I could think of, was retrofitting few of large scale existing non-photovoltaic power plants (Morocco, Arizona etc) where sunk costs of past "investments" could be recovered (big) if the technology could really scale output faster than costs. Though water requirements, and neighbors not happy with harvesting water from air (likely at additional cost/efficiency impairment) will be a problem.
while the waste like this is glorified as yet another achievement of technology/human race. I guess different standards are applied to those with boatload of $ and those that can barely afford a beater car (and may soon be forced to walk everywhere once their PoS vehicle is considered outside of compliance with some arbitrarily stringent policies applicable only to unwashed masses).
Somehow I can see IPSs and techbros/hipsters that want to settle countryside (but did not want to lose "civilization" link) as the greater beneficiaries of yet another government handout than the rest of society that stayed in remote places because they either wanted to be left alone or appreciates lower cost of living there (being undesirable by those who just have to have it all). As usual we'll all chip in to support "high society's" vision of enlightened lifestyle that everyone should aspire to.
while the issue demonstrates major issue America faces (corporatism), with elected (?) officials working against their own electorate, I think that instead of asking for "trade secret" info, someone should get total water production data and usage of all other customers. What's left will be Google's cloud dirty secrets (I bet all is powered by clean renewable energy diverted from other more essential purposes).
It's safe to assume that businesses participating in Home Use program have already assigned e3 license to employees. This entitles to bunch of installs across devices of users' choice. Let's call it sideloading (someone paid for it so freeloading it is not). Keep files locally and Office is Office. For honest folks or these that simply don't trust MS, there are open source options. And obviously old versions of MSO (regardless of their license status). Absolutely no reason for consumers to fill up MS coffers.
Really no need for racism to impact wait times for Indian nationals. You start will limited pool, split between regions/countries and, with huge number of people from India entering the line, you get 12 years wait time. For better or worse, US can't just let global population move in all at once (at least until "American dream" is all gone).
"Don't Cisco have a back door into their kit which will allow American authorities to access the infrastructure its placed into?" - Cisco likes to have it both ways. I don't think their contribution to Great Firewall is by accident. And with number of bugs their kit does not require any covert back doors.
It's not just paying fee for something that should have already been covered by taxed we pay. It's sharing financial data with these greedy a..holes at tax prep behemoths that irks me. The reason I've been filling up paper forms for years as the problem is not new but has just extended into foreseeable future (and similarly to Micky mouse copyright "initiative" should be labelled with the name of major backers). I can only see time when they block states from providing the service (similarly to telcos blocking municipalities from providing basic Internet access).
If anyone needed another proof that our 2 party system is just a smokescreen, there it is.
"it seems nobody has quite nailed this form factor with the possible exception of Apple" - sure, if one like the looks of retro teen with cigarette over ear(s). The reason Apple's device performs so well (likely with exception to job #1 that is the sound quality) is its form factor (allowing for better antenna placement), separate BT radio per each earbud and increased power levels at which they operate. Unfortunately none of these is free - they are pricey, look stupid, are likely prone to falling (depending on activity user participated in) and built in battery life is only acceptable.
BTW, Samsung's design looks like a copy of original Jabra Elite Sport. These has proved great (as far as BT can deliver), especially for the refurbished price I've got them for.
Opera browser also tried this years ago and it did not catch on - nobody really cared to learn to cast spells when simpler "digital" interface accomplished most common actions without 2-nd guessing oneself. Similarly with iOS gestures - Apple keeps subjecting users to less predictable outcomes of more and more complex UI (but sometimes comes to senses and drops force touch).
Ability to join insider program (or even install a game) on a work computer does not sound plausible. OTOH, "fanboys" and geeks are far more likely to participate (on their personal systems) and just as likely to play some games (thus supplying MS plenty of data on this particular subject). Because of this MS' excuses don't hold water. I'd rather say that they'd rummaged through the telemetry looking for something else before actually using it to spot bugs. Prior issues seem to confirm this.
"Press start button.
Ignore start menu.
type name of application, or service etc required."
sure, it's just surprising how badly it works at times (plus Cortana creep). It requires keyboard use - not always handy. Current Start menu is just badly designed and functionally is inferior to Windows 7's (that also offered option to search in it for those that preferred it).
As much as I'd like to stick it to Comcast (and since all I can do is to limit my spend, I've done so), as much I dislike the tendency of (local) governments to levy taxes for things that are not exactly necessity (yep, broadband is nice to have but not really necessity). Here neither Comcast should get 400k$ nor the town should spend 1.4m$ out of someone's else pocket. All that should be done is to truly open the market instead of the usual granting concession to one big player (like Comcast). If someone likes to live off the grid (where nobody in their right mind would run data link) it is his/her choice but he/she can't have it both ways at the expense of the crowded quarters inhabitants (which had to compromise elsewhere to have easy access to "civilization"). And the percentage of voting public here indicates that either few was aware of the vote, had no time to go to pols (and soon will have less as the extra tax will have to paid and earned somehow) or is just disillusioned that their vote mattered (one way or another) - all of this possibilities are troubling but the norm for US.
Probably not in line with sentiment of the forum but I've grown tired of paying for pipe dreams (even these promising shiny new tech) while even the basic needs are barely take care of. Unfortunately this is not limited to government and it gets nearly impossible to avoid this inflation of obligations.
I guess one could argue about the difference between just overpriced and over-engineered (to justifying ridiculous price). It's amazing that some otherwise reasonable people support with their (though more often busniness' they worked for money) money gizmos that offered no functional advantage over quality kit that's while 2mm thicker (and sometimes not even this), is upgrade-able and repairable (if only to the advantage of the 2nd hand buyer). I guess only disposal fees will make this crap less desirable (where no demand for used model will have the original buyer actually pay for offloading the bricked device).
And this soldered SSD is just the nail in the coffin. Surely you'd not like anything bad to happen to your data (so pay up for OneDrive).
Someone else who also gets it is the regular taxpayer. He/She gets to cover the difference for creative accounting of corporations.
Also the customer gets to pay for always new toys - similarly to car leases, service "deals" encourage getting more than really needed, as most lessees can't see past monthly payment. Hopefully the option of just buying the stuff won't be discontinued by rent seeking vendors.
BTW, expecting that suddenly all problems are resolved immediately just because one pays monthly is fallacy. Not only cost skyrocket with such expectations but also not every employee wanted/could have his workstation just dropped into box and replaced with new one with no transition period (or just honest attempt at restoring "old" system). This works in emergency but few really like it.
In the end only corps win.
OTOH, the utility pole infrastructure (as pictured) does not need a hurricane to fall apart every few seasons. Only to be stubbornly replaced with even lower quality sticks (them trees are not what they'd used to be). All because constant fixing the crap is supposedly cheaper than doing it right.
OTOH, having some of app data files in "my documents" is not such a bad thing once you realize that some of software settings is as valuable as the files one creates using the software. The annoying part is how some of apps mix the intent of Roaming and Local data folders. Add registry entries to the mix and the lack of consistency makes for really messy transitions between machines/systems. Still, I'd rather take care of of this myself than have a cloud service provider do it out "goodness" of their heart (or more likely just an interest of every aspect of my offline activities).
I don't know that it worked. My old flip phone with PASG "plan" and messaging disabled by TM (excluding these sent by them) have not shown any. Ruckus at the office was much lesser than expected. I've switched mine to airplane mode but turned it back on early enough for retries to get through. Nothing. Not that I cared much for any such notification.
?
"SMS messages are essentially at no additional cost"?
Maybe something has change since, but there's definitely a reason I'd disabled SMS on my account. While outgoing messages were overpriced, the incoming spam could run multiple the normal monthly bill (and as opposed to call one can't just deny incoming message). Unless you considered the "unlimited messaging included" as no additional cost (I bet there's extra line on the bill) the cell service in the US is objectively substandard and SMS message pricing is another ripoff on top of already inflated service plan costs.
Ribbon may suck but rendering everything (including text) in some shade of gray (the newer the version the worse it got) is the worst offense of MS' UX team. I don't know how they come up with their design cues and what kind of users they survey, but surely all that forced telemetry proved of little use (unless they'll just dox us in the future).
I'd add one more thing to the definition of broadband availability - cost. I couldn't care less that 25Mbps is easily available in my area if it's only available bundled with TV and even more useless VoIP crap (increasing already from already overpriced 50$ to 100$+ ripoff per month). I can bet that 1Gbps can be had almost everywhere if cost was not an issue but if the service is not affordable for majority of residents it's not much different from not available.
I've settled at 3.7Mbps exactly for this reason.
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