Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Dead Elephant Frenzy

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  • Steve Barnes,

    Damn you Dalziel, I was about to post that myself. You know, elephants, rooms, cash in . Damn it, you Trunked me.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • George Darroch,

    So you spent $59

    $20 per licence, if you want to look at it that way. And that's the whole operating system, not some arbitrarily crippled "home" edition. How many hundred $ do you reckon the Windows 7 bug fix will set you back?

    Both of you, stop it. Anyway, I got my OS for free.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report

  • George Darroch,

    Re overseas funding. Have you seen www.nsanz.org.nz? It's the newly formed National Shooters Association. No idea where they get the money from, but at first sight I wondered if it was an NRA offshoot.

    As far as I can tell, it's just one man from Palmerston North who is fighting a court case trying to have the reclassification of certain semi-automatic rifles as assault weapons overturned.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Charlton Heston Appreciation Society...

    It's the newly formed National Shooters Association.

    Two stories in today's Press about guns:
    Plan-for-gun-shop-sited-near-school-worries-residents
    and
    Business-broker-faces-three-firearm-charges

    in the first one:

    Gun City owner David Tipple said any concerns about the location of the store were simply "hysteria".
    ...and later...
    "Our customers are the cream of society.
    "They need to have a fixed abode, stable family connections, and no gang connections or mental health issues we have got the nicest customers in New Zealand..."

    the second story is about a chch Business broker shooting his pet cats ...

    - wonder where he bought his guns?

    yrs ballistically
    A K Forty-seven
    Arms for Children anyone?

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Take a good look around Windows 7: A First Look for IT Pros and tell me if you still view Windows 7 as a service pack?

    Actually, I said "bug fix" in response to Tony's "service pack" -- but I wasn't being entirely serious ...

    It actually seems to me that both OSes are of a similar character. And there's no way Snow Leopard could have been viably delivered as an online update anyway. I'm not sure how much is on the DVD but the developer releases were all ~6GB. That's a bit more than a service pack.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Woot!

    The Ars review of Snow Leopard is up -- all 23 pages of it.

    And I found a bug in opening one PDF that repeatably crashed both Preview and Safari.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Morphic Resonance, or...?

    I was about to post that myself. You know, elephants, rooms, cash in . Damn it, you Trunked me.

    ...or, post-magic pre-science - in the holographic bubble universe, grate branes think alike...

    I want to spend my light with a grille like you...

    sorry about truncating your flow :-)

    yrs sheepishly
    Reg Presley
    Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
    Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Apple - OS and gaming the system too ...?
    if we can believe the Huffington Post the Securities & Exchange Commission has kicked
    off an investigation into the trading in Apple's securities both here (US) and abroad.

    Jobs for the boys then?
    or just Intel Inside(r) trading?

    you got a light, Mac?
    No, but I've got a dark secret...

    yrs chipperly
    Snowy Leppard
    fast like a cheetah...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Tony Siu,

    Sound like I started a flame war...

    I logoff for a couple hours catching up on uni work. Yes, I know its a semester break. I have one more. From Ars's review:

    The number-one feature request from heavy column-view users has finally been implemented: sortable columns.

    Seriously, this is getting derisory.

    And guys, there is nothing to be excited about an operating system.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 82 posts Report

  • TracyMac,

    I got my Studio XPS from Dell (yes, the Dell Hell, but these lappies are sexay) last week, and spent the grand total of 20 minutes this evening installing Mint Linux (an Ubuntu derivation) as a dual-boot OS with Fista [sic] (hurry up Win 7 upgrade!) and all the bundled apps. Oh, after downloading and burning the DVD, of course.

    I had to run a wee app (EnvyNG) to install the proper ATI graphics driver to get the 1080p display to full res, but that was a 2 minute job. No command-line: it downloaded, installed and configured the driver. No muss no fuss.

    Anyway, horses for courses as far as OSes go, I reckon.

    As for Kashin, I grew up an Aucklander, enjoyed the zoo, and like elephants, and I don't really give a toss. I suppose a lot of people got into Kashin because of the ASB school banking thingie, but we never had money for that.

    As for the remark about the Centre for New Zealand Studies at Birkbeck, huh, that can't have been around long. I worked there for 4 years in the early 00s, and it didn't exist then (or they were very quiet about their existence).

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Seriously, this is getting derisory.

    And guys, there is nothing to be excited about an operating system.

    Aw, don't be silly Tony. I found that review fascinating. Siracusa's final paragraph is this.

    Snow Leopard is a unique and beautiful release, unlike any that have come before it in both scope and intention. At some point, Mac OS X will surely need to get back on the bullet-point-features bandwagon. But for now, I'm content with Snow Leopard. It's the Mac OS X I know and love, but with more of the things that make it weak and strange engineered away.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Jackie Clark,

    Most of the time, I love you guys. But sometimes, just sometimes, you're enough to bring on a headache of epic proportions, as the brain tries to comprehend words I've never heard of, and OS's I wouldn't be brave enough to try. Let alone install. We have a guy for that.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report

  • James W,

    So you did. Part two of this Editing The Herald post, wasn't it?

    Yes.

    Since Jul 2008 • 136 posts Report

  • James W,

    Whenever I get called to do a survey I always say yes, because I know how influential they are, especially political ones. Considering how many people refuse or hang up (or give all 5s), I reckon my real answers probably have quite a bit of sway over the final result.

    Since Jul 2008 • 136 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    It's a mixture of tight deadlines leading to reporters needing a quick rent-a-quote from both "sides", and the useless 'he says she says' reporting technique the media seems to love, that leads to people like McCroskie, Cameron Brewer, Garth McVicar et al. getting a disproportionate amount of press.

    Slight dissent here, James W -- trying to at least superficially balance a story is far from "useless". And I'd note on the more liberal side of the fence, you could come up with an equally unimpressive list of rentaquotes -- seriously, "veteran activist" John Minto is an informed commentator on Afghanistan and executive salaries because he knows WTF he's talking about, or because he's reliably outrageous...?

    As I said, I'm more worried about the way McCroskie, Garth McVicar et. al. apparently gets immunity from basic fact-checking. And I'll put the blame for that squarely on the media.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Are these the final days...?

    :: Warning :: Threadjack ::
    :: Cultural Upheaval Ahead ::

    Disney buys Marvel!!
    - there goes the Howard the Duck revival then...
    Bags the first Vibranium cased iPhone!

    Who's at the bottom of your swimming pool?
    UK Police have been handed new information and are reviewing the case, and cause, of Brian Jones death! No Stone unturned this time...

    yrs passively
    The Watcher
    Armageddon outta here...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Gareth Ward,

    Windows 7 is so good that it's made me... buy a Macbook Pro...

    After suffering through Vista on me Dell laptop, having installed the 7 RC I realised how much more useful the guts of a computer can be. But then I realised that I'd have to fork out hundreds of dollars in a few months time to buy the legit version. And that the Dell Plastictron4000 would likely only last a year beyond that.
    So it makes specifically prescriptive financial sense ( it does, alright ) to shell out for a Macbook Pro now instead (taking advantage of various strong NZD and US education deal routes I have right now) given I get a machine that will (with upgrades) last a good five years and make me 37% more attractive to organic hemp documentary makers.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Grey Lynn, then, Gareth?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Not that there's anything wrong with that.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    I was envious of the kids who banked with Kashin. I was set up with the boring old Post Office, myself. Ironic that Kashin lived longer than that bank.

    As for phone services, I resist calls to 'modernize', and generally prefer to use voice. I won't leave voice messages, but I do listen to the ones I receive, particularly since I get a text message every time, so I always know I've got one. I like receiving text messages but dislike writing them, purely on convenience. A 30 second phone call seems to convey as much as a 5 text message exchange, which typically takes me several minutes to key in, during which my eyes need to remain glued to the phone. Some kinds of things are best conveyed that way, like numbers and addresses. If the other person isn't there, then leaving a text seems more likely to get read than leaving a voice. Basically, whatever is most convenient is my bag.

    On the PC, I generally prefer IM over email. Similar reason - email exchanges take longer. But I prefer IM over voice too - having a proper keyboard in an ergonomic position makes all the difference. Also the trail of communication is much better than relying on memory of what people said. But for the fastest communication of all, I still don't see anything that beats voice. When you are actually trying to nut something out, it's so....natural.

    I'm sure that's why large scale in-home telecommunications started with voice rather than Morse Code, which had been around a lot longer. When I'm writing a text I often feel like a huge step backwards has been made.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Robert Urquhart,

    I was set up with the boring old Post Office, myself. Ironic that Kashin lived longer than that bank.

    I still have the PostBank money box in a junk drawer here somewhere, although I broke into it at some point after the ANZ takeover.

    It occasionally amuses me that despite bank changes and branch changes and many account type changes my Savings account still retains the full PostBank number. I'm sure that gives someone in the ANZ a headache from time to time :D

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2009 • 163 posts Report

  • Tony Siu,

    Talking about Mac vs PC is about preferences and likeability. You can always provoke violences among the Mac fans by saying the words "Apple tax" or "expensive". And you also do the some with the PC folks with the words "Microsoft is evil". Truth to be told, both sides is right. However, it's the cost of the "0 new features but lots of improvements and adding minor things that should have been there in the first place" Snow Leopard that I'm arguing about. And yes, there are lower price academic version for both Windows (OEM versions goes for less than $120 bucks with future service packs release free) and Office (check out www.theultimatesteal.co.nz).

    Fine, it's not a service pack, it's a maintenance release regardless of size.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 82 posts Report

  • BenWilson,

    And you also do the some with the PC folks with the words "Microsoft is evil".

    Huh? Most PC folk I know think "Microsoft is evil" is knowledge . It's just the Devil you know :-)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

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