Orclev's Comments

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : It's Japanese For "I Sing Better When I'm Drunk"

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:03:03 +0000

I could so do a Wierd Al themed karaoke party. Personally though, I'd lean more towards some of his older stuff... and if I was feeling sadistic a few of his polkas (nothing like doing 18 songs in all of 2 minutes). To this day there are a number of songs that I can't hear without hearing the Wierd Al versions, and similarly a few of them that I can't hear without picturing some AMVs (the AMV that was part of AMV Hell 3 with all the Rei's set to "I think I'm a clone now" is one of them).

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : All We Wanna Do Is Eat Your Brains

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:06:06 +0000

... *shifts nervously*... uhm... if I were to tell you that I've never seen Heroes, although it's on my list of shows to buy at some point (along with Battlestar Galactica and the rest of Farscape) would I be permanently shunned and/or stoned to death?

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : It's All In The Editing

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:51:58 +0000

Windows security does suck, but honestly the security on OS X, and even Linux isn't that much better. The main reason you don't see many viruses and worms targeted at OS X or LInux is simply a case of effort versus return on investment. Since windows is the dominant OS of your average clueless user, and there are plenty of windows systems around that are easily compromised it's simply not worth their effort to spend the time required to infect OS X. Interestingly enough, I've seen plenty of Linux systems cracked, although never in a way that wasn't blatantly obvious. In the case of Linux systems their interested in servers and rely on them not being carefully monitored as opposed to Windows in which they can more easily hide their activities. If the situation was reversed, and OS X had a 60% or better market penetration most viruses and worms would be written for OS X.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : It's All In The Editing

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:49:36 +0000

He's either trolling, or ignorant, either way ignore him. If he wishes to learn something he can read the comments on here, there's not much else to be done. On a related note, does ID have a ignore capability or threshold? I know on some moderation systems if a comment gets modded low enough it becomes hidden, any such thing here?

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : It's All In The Editing

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:27:17 +0000

Depends a lot on what you do with it to how much you notice the warts (and how long you've been using it, they've fixed a lot of them, and I do mean a lot). Vista has almost reached the point of being about as stable as pre-SP1 XP, which is still a lot better than ME ever managed, but less than most other OSes. The whole thing is mostly moot anyway, as Vista was just a stop gap for MS to get something to market till they could roll out Windows 7. I've said it in the past, and I'll say it again now, Vista is the new Windows ME. ME was created as a temporary patch in between 98 and XP that was put together by stapling pieces of XP on to a 98 core, and it showed quite often when pieces fell off. Vista is the same thing, it's pieces of Windows 7 stapled onto a XP core and it to shows its rickety providence. Is Vista the most terrible OS ever created? Hardly, but XP SP2 is still better, and that's not the way to roll out a new product. When your previous version performs better than your new version, you're doing it wrong.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : It's All In The Editing

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:39:45 +0000

Yes and no. Vista asks you to click ok anytime you do anything that might in any way potentially mess something up. It should be noted that there are a lot of things you do every single day that have the potential to possibly mess something up, as well as the fact that the popups don't actually ask you if you want to do whatever it was you just tried to do, at least not in a way your average user is able to understand. That was the biggest failing of the so called "security" in Vista, it doesn't provide enough feedback to the user about what exactly it is that they're saying "ok" to, which in many regards is worse than not even asking in the first place. The first time it happens, the user is rightfully worried and reads over the message carefully. Not being able to understand exactly what it's asking they say ok, and wait for something bad to happen, and when nothing does they assume everything is ok. Repeat 10 or 20 times over a period of a week or so of regular use, and the user quickly learns that anytime that particular popup comes up, just click yes. It defeats the entire purpose, and trains the user that warning popups aren't important. A warning that can't be understood by the user, is less useful than not having a warning at all. I've thought of ways of dealing with this problem, and could go on at length about it, but this really isn't the place for it, and I doubt Joel would care for me to fill up his comments thread with paragraph upon paragraph of OS design and security discussion (not that I haven't already made a start of it, sorry Joel).

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : It's All In The Editing

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:43:11 +0000

PC is a generic term for anything that isn't a mainframe system, and arguably anything not rack-mounted. Considering that almost all computers these days, barring legacy hardware and the few bits of custom systems used for very specialized industries, are constructed of the same basic hardware (I.E. 80x86 CPUs with matching motherboard, flavor of the month RAM, PATA/SATA/SCSI/SAS storage peripherals, and PCI/PCIx/PCIe expansion cards) other than the form factor of the enclosing case and the relative clock speeds/capacities of the components involved there's virtually no difference between any modern computers from a hardware standpoint. PC, being an acronym for Personal Computer, just about anything small enough to fit on a table counts as a PC. Of course, in modern usage PC is usually used to refer to IBM compatible PCs, but since IBM compatible just means it uses the 80x86 instruction set, and all consumer AMD and Intel chips use the 80x86 instruction set, it's really still the same thing. So, in short, as Joel said, nearly all computers today count as a PC, even under the slightly more restrictive usage of IBM compatible PC. Exceptions to this rule would be (arguably) the Itanium Intel processors, and the Sparc series of processors by Sun, although either one realisticly still qualifies under the older less restrictive definition of a PC.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : It's All In The Editing

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:07:49 +0000

No, the OS provides too many functions and is too critical to the security of the computer to be completely marginalized. It's a common argument I hear that the OS won't matter and we'll all move to a thin client model, but that ignores the fact that even in a thin client system we need at least a minimal OS to authenticate the servers we connect to to provide our functionality. There's also the problem that unless we move to a system in which there's no external hardware (IE usb thumbdrives, cds, DVDs, iPods, etc.) then you still need an OS to provide the drivers and interface with that external hardware. The only way a truly dumb terminal can function is if it merely acts as a display and input device, ala keyboard and monitor, and it has to have a direct hardline connection to the underlying system. The minute you must perform any sort of unverifiable routing (IE the internet), or attach random hardware a thin client no longer works. This also is going backwards technologically in many regards, back to the old mainframe days. Part of the reason our computing power has exploded so drastically is the ability to distribute computing across a wide area. We may move into a co-op style system in which computing tasks are farmed out to various computers on the network, potentially transparently to the user (see the various @home projects), but I don't think we'll ever move to a truely dumb terminal system because even when the processing is distributed across a "cloud" of nodes, each of those nodes must in turn run some sort of OS.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : It's All In The Editing

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:48:17 +0000

OSes are actually something I've put a lot of thought into. For instance, if tomorrow I won the lottery and never had to work again, one of the first things I'd work on would be to write the OS I've always wanted. The problem is really that no one has done it completely "right" yet, although different companies (and individuals) have gotten pieces correct over the years, none of them have been able to bring all the right pieces together. Apple for instance understands how to make things relatively intuitive and simple for the user. They do not understand how to make things powerful (or secure), and they're really more in the hardware business than they are software. Microsoft knows business. They know how to work the CEOs, and how to convince PHBs that they absolutely cannot afford to not throw piles of money at Microsoft. They've also managed to lock down game developers primarily because there's no real competition in that space. Microsoft absolutely does not understand security in even the most remote fashion, and they're UI is a middle ground approach, too complicated for a novice, and too simple for an advanced user. Linux (and its UNIX cousin) get power users, and has the best overall security of all (which is still a far cry from what it "should" be), but seriously suffers from lack of a unified vision, and a simple interface. Linux is powerful, and when you've massaged all the wrinkles out it's a glorious thing, but it requires attention and careful maintenance. It's a bit like an old muscle car, you can do amazing things with it, but it's not really the best solution for your soccer moms and anyone that really just wants things to work out of the box. All three major options have things that they do right, things the excel at, and some of those things are mutually exclusive (for instance you cannot have a single interface that pleases both novice users, and experienced users at the same time), but all of them fail overall at providing a good user experience. To a certain extent, until something better comes along we really just need to use whatever is most appropriate for us in whichever situation we find ourselves, although we shouldn't be complacent about the state of things. Eh... so, what's my point? Operating Systems suck, all of them, in their own unique ways, so just use whichever one works best for you, and anyone that says you're wrong for whatever choice you've made doesn't really understand that nature of the market. Oh, and the whole Apple vs. PC thing is a misnomer, it should be Apple Hardware and Software vs. Commodity Hardware and Windows, but that title is a bit long and pedantic to make a good ad campaign. As for the Vista ads... uh, y eah, wtf?

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : The WarranTards!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:14:02 +0000

The CC near me has never had good service in any way shape or form. In particular since they stopped giving out commission a while back it's just about impossible to find any employees there that give a crap about anything, not that I particularly blame them, if I worked in retail I probably wouldn't give a crap either.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : The WarranTards!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:12:15 +0000

The stores around here do mark open box items, but I've never noticed "hella discount" on any of them. Usually it's something like 5 to 10 percent off the normal retail price (quick example, there was a open box Apple keyboard which normal is priced something like $60 and it was marked down to $55). I mean, sure it's discounted, but it's hardly much of a discount most of the time.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : The WarranTards!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:08:01 +0000

If you get any particularly juicy customer stories make sure to post them on http://notalwaysright.com/ It's quickly becoming one of my favorite sites and almost always makes me laugh.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : The WarranTards!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:01:08 +0000

Only problem with DVDs at Walmart is they tend to only carry fullscreen versions. Widescreen DVDs are few and far between (at least at the Walmarts by me) not to mention poorly labeled. It's to the point I'm paranoid about buying any DVDs at Walmart and always double check that it is in fact a 16:9 ratio, and if I can't find anything that says what the screen size is I don't buy it.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : The WarranTards!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:57:46 +0000

My thought process "Huh, what the hell was Bill thinking with these commercials... maybe he should spend less time trying to convince everyone that Vista doesn't suck, and instead work on, you know, making an OS that doesn't suck." That being said, every OS sucks, just some more than others, and in different ways. I used to really enjoy Linux, but lately I've had no end of problems with it, so much so, it's looking like XP is the best OS out there right now (although OS X is pretty close as well). Now if only it wasn't constantly under attack due to it's utterly brain dead security model. I would love to have the time and money to write my own OS if for no other reason than to fix all the security problems present in virtually every OS out there, but sadly I've got bills to pay.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : The WarranTards!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:49:50 +0000

Reminds me of being in a store the other day (think it was an FYE but wouldn't swear to it). We asked a question about something or other, and the poor girl behind the counter gave us this 10 minute spiel about something or other at about 90 words a minute only stopping to inhale about twice. At the end of it we were just like "wow, do they make you say that to everyone that asks you a question?" to which she replied yes, and that that was the short one, they used to have a longer one they had to use, and the managers would listen and ream them out if they didn't do the whole thing, or if they screwed up part of it. All I could think was why even bother having workers at that point, you'd save time and money just putting up a big ass sign and telling everyone they had to read it before you'd help them (which is basically what they were doing anyway). We told the girl we were sorry she had such a shitty job, and then promptly went to another store.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : The WarranTards!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:40:11 +0000

I wish there was a Fry's Electronics around where I live. Sadly my choices are basically limited to Best Buy, Circuit City (unbelievably even worse than Best Buy), or Radio Shack (who seem to have transitioned into pedlar's of miscellaneous remote control garbage and cell phones). On the plus side I've got a Best Buy mastercard and it's got a really nice point reward system that more or less means I get a free DVD each month when I pay my rent with it.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : Super-Herois A Liga Da Injustica

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 14:31:46 +0000

New theory holds that interbreeding of Stalin bees with Hitler bees are ultimately responsible for Colony Collapse Disorder.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : VPILF

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 14:08:43 +0000

Oooo, she's a young earth creationist? Didn't know that, well, I'll file her away in the nut job folder then and be done with it.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : VPILF

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 14:05:53 +0000

Definitely one of the downsides to the relatively short presidential terms, it doesn't give the winner much time to turn things around if the previous president left on a downward trend. Of course, by the same token if he does somehow manage to turn things around before the end of his term he comes out looking that much better for it.

HijiNKS ENSUE - A Geek Webcomic : VPILF

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 14:02:21 +0000

For what it's worth, I'm voting for Obama because his stance on technology is the best between him and McCain. Of course, with the choice of his running mate he hurt himself somewhat, as I don't care at all for the stance of his running mate. I do feel somewhat that McCains choice of running mate was an attempt to pull in Hillary supporters, as she doesn't seem to be a very logical choice otherwise for someone in the traditionally conservative Republican camp.