I can haz general discussion?

Norrdeth

Haha burn!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eF0y0IfpPU

Effluo

banquo wrote: »

You'll be wanting the new iPad next

They are rubbish, "netbook with a touch screen? Yay lets spend all our money on it" :rolleyes:

Ms. Koi

Don't have enough money to get one but I do have my mam's Nokia E63 which I am in love with!! Been trying to convince her for ages to give it to me! yay!!

Ugh I hurt my ankle this morning in camogie and I can't put any weight on it and it's all swollen and throbbing...ouch!

declan06

iPad is useless! I mean no use cases, and don't get me started on the whole openness debate. Android FTW!

banquo

Re: the iPad, I totally understand why most techies wouldn't want one. However: think of your mother. This is a device that my mother can use to watch films, use the internet and listen to music with. It's a 100% pedestrian device. The best thing about it is that the entire filesystem is hidden: there is no barrier or fiddling between user and content. It's deliberately basic and closed.

Think even of the typical 1st year student with their new Dell laptop.

1st year buys his laptop with its three hour running time, multitasking and is very happy with it. Because he doesn't know much about computers, he doesn't really recognise bad sites, malware, etc. Because he doesn't know about background processes, he doesn't know why his pc s-l-o-w-s down over time. It comes pre-installed with all kinds of crap, half of which executes on startup (UPGRADE TO NORTON ANTI-VIRUS NOW FOR ONLY $XX.XX A MONTH) so the whole damn thing takes 5 or 6 minutes to become usable from boot. Not being a techie, he uses MSWord '97 and IE6 - the most used browser in the world. He probably uses Limewire, too.

After 6 months or so, first year's laptop moves like a turtle sleepwalking through peantbutter. The battery lasts barely two hours, if it hasn't already died because it's made from super-cheap parts and crammed together with the rest of the internals. He brings it to a computer-fixer who has to wipe everything on it and he loses all his files and his laptop runs fine again. For a few more weeks. The it turns to sh1t again. Most problems with crappy laptops get blamed on viruses when in fact they're just crappy laptops with minimal lifespan. Dell are the worst offenders, though you get what you pay for. As someone who far too often gets asked to ''take a look at my laptop, I think it has a virus or summit'', I 100% welcome this kind of system.

PCs with Windows are open and very developer-friendly. You can do way more with them than you could an iPad, but that's not the point of the iPad. It's like when people complain that their shoes won't make phone calls. It's deliberately closed with no multi-tasking because that's way the typcial, non-techie user will get the most out of it.

Unless you're a CSSE student, there's hardly anything that this wouldn't make easier for a typical student. Opens and saves docuemnts as MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel. There's wireless printing, which is widely available in the college now. Keyboard would probably improve things though. Also, you can carry around all your notes from JSTOR or Moodle for reading or editing - half the books you'd study in English are available for free via iBooks (access to Project Gutenburg)

I do think that they should supply (for download) a more open version of the OS that allows people with more tech-savvy to have more access to the device, on the understanding that you have no warranty or phone support until/unless you wipe the phone and reinstall the standard OS.

You'll get at least 10 hours of constant internet/youtube/watching video on the iPad. You won't get a virus. Ever. It might get a bit slow after a few years, but never to the dismal levels of a 2/3 year old cheap laptop (this is assuming that it is, in fact, a big iPod Touch). Because any app (game, office software, etc) has to be pre-approved by Apple to make sure it's safe, you'll never get any weird ''not working for some reason, sorry'' problems. It just works.

/my views on, and defense of, iPad.

Ataxia

banquo wrote: »

Re: the iPad, I totally understand why most techies wouldn't want one. However: think of your mother. This is a device that my mother can use to watch films, use the internet and listen to music with. It's a 100% pedestrian device. The best thing about it is that the entire filesystem is hidden: there is no barrier or fiddling between user and content. It's deliberately basic and closed.

Think even of the typical 1st year student with their new Dell laptop.

1st year buys his laptop with its three hour running time, multitasking and is very happy with it. Because he doesn't know much about computers, he doesn't really recognise bad sites, malware, etc. Because he doesn't know about background processes, he doesn't know why his pc s-l-o-w-s down over time. It comes pre-installed with all kinds of crap, half of which executes on startup (UPGRADE TO NORTON ANTI-VIRUS NOW FOR ONLY $XX.XX A MONTH) so the whole damn thing takes 5 or 6 minutes to become usable from boot. Not being a techie, he uses MSWord '97 and IE6 - the most used browser in the world. He probably uses Limewire, too.

After 6 months or so, first year's laptop moves like a turtle sleepwalking through peantbutter. The battery lasts barely two hours, if it hasn't already died because it's made from super-cheap parts and crammed together with the rest of the internals. He brings it to a computer-fixer who has to wipe everything on it and he loses all his files and his laptop runs fine again. For a few more weeks. The it turns to sh1t again. Most problems with crappy laptops get blamed on viruses when in fact they're just crappy laptops with minimal lifespan. Dell are the worst offenders, though you get what you pay for. As someone who far too often gets asked to ''take a look at my laptop, I think it has a virus or summit'', I 100% welcome this kind of system.

PCs with Windows are open and very developer-friendly. You can do way more with them than you could an iPad, but that's not the point of the iPad. It's like when people complain that their shoes won't make phone calls. It's deliberately closed with no multi-tasking because that's way the typcial, non-techie user will get the most out of it.

Unless you're a CSSE student, there's hardly anything that this wouldn't make easier for a typical student. Opens and saves docuemnts as MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel. There's wireless printing, which is widely available in the college now. Keyboard would probably improve things though. Also, you can carry around all your notes from JSTOR or Moodle for reading or editing - half the books you'd study in English are available for free via iBooks (access to Project Gutenburg)

I do think that they should supply (for download) a more open version of the OS that allows people with more tech-savvy to have more access to the device, on the understanding that you have no warranty or phone support until/unless you wipe the phone and reinstall the standard OS.

You'll get at least 10 hours of constant internet/youtube/watching video on the iPad. You won't get a virus. Ever. It might get a bit slow after a few years, but never to the dismal levels of a 2/3 year old cheap laptop (this is assuming that it is, in fact, a big iPod Touch). Because any app (game, office software, etc) has to be pre-approved by Apple to make sure it's safe, you'll never get any weird ''not working for some reason, sorry'' problems. It just works.

/my views on, and defense of, iPad.

So, how do Steve Jobs' balls taste in your mouth?

CnaG

"Think of your mother"... Well, my mother happens to be an IT teacher so...

Anyhow, I'm still loving the iTouch. I noticed that there are wireless networks available at my bus stop, so I downloaded dessid in the hope that I'll be able to use the net while waiting on dublin bus. Just, you know, to check the bus time table and stuff (shifty eyes)

I just saw an ad for avia health insurance at the bottom of this page. Didn't they go bust recently?

leopoldbloom

To move aside from the glorified ipod touch debate slightly...

Published days one - three of my congress report if anyone wants a gawk.

http://aengusmaynooth.wordpress.com/

CnaG

leopoldbloom wrote: »

To move aside from the glorified ipod touch debate slightly...

Published days one - three of my congress report if anyone wants a gawk.

http://aengusmaynooth.wordpress.com/

Is that... a mohawk?

Anyway, interesting post. Pity about Donal not getting to speak.

See the way the USI General Manager spoke, is there some way of getting Ian Russell to do that at UC? It'd be nice to know what he gets up to in the union...

funky penguin

CnaG wrote: »

Is that... a mohawk?

*swells with pride* its like my little baby or something.

Great read, congrats on the award man!

rcaz

banquo wrote: »

like a turtle sleepwalking through peantbutter.

Lovely words!

leopoldbloom

CnaG wrote: »

See the way the USI General Manager spoke, is there some way of getting Ian Russell to do that at UC? It'd be nice to know what he gets up to in the union...

Not a bad idea there. He'd probably only be needed once or twice a year though.

leopoldbloom

Right. There's day four published. Enjoy!

XxMCRxBabyxX

CnaG wrote: »

I just saw an ad for avia health insurance at the bottom of this page. Didn't they go bust recently?

Eh, I hope not. They cover my health Insurance and I need that ****!

cian1500ww

The iPad to me sounds like an over-glorified netbook tbh...

mp3guy

banquo wrote: »

Re: the iPad, I totally understand why most techies wouldn't want one. However: think of your mother. This is a device that my mother can use to watch films, use the internet and listen to music with. It's a 100% pedestrian device. The best thing about it is that the entire filesystem is hidden: there is no barrier or fiddling between user and content. It's deliberately basic and closed.

Think even of the typical 1st year student with their new Dell laptop.

1st year buys his laptop with its three hour running time, multitasking and is very happy with it. Because he doesn't know much about computers, he doesn't really recognise bad sites, malware, etc. Because he doesn't know about background processes, he doesn't know why his pc s-l-o-w-s down over time. It comes pre-installed with all kinds of crap, half of which executes on startup (UPGRADE TO NORTON ANTI-VIRUS NOW FOR ONLY $XX.XX A MONTH) so the whole damn thing takes 5 or 6 minutes to become usable from boot. Not being a techie, he uses MSWord '97 and IE6 - the most used browser in the world. He probably uses Limewire, too.

After 6 months or so, first year's laptop moves like a turtle sleepwalking through peantbutter. The battery lasts barely two hours, if it hasn't already died because it's made from super-cheap parts and crammed together with the rest of the internals. He brings it to a computer-fixer who has to wipe everything on it and he loses all his files and his laptop runs fine again. For a few more weeks. The it turns to sh1t again. Most problems with crappy laptops get blamed on viruses when in fact they're just crappy laptops with minimal lifespan. Dell are the worst offenders, though you get what you pay for. As someone who far too often gets asked to ''take a look at my laptop, I think it has a virus or summit'', I 100% welcome this kind of system.

PCs with Windows are open and very developer-friendly. You can do way more with them than you could an iPad, but that's not the point of the iPad. It's like when people complain that their shoes won't make phone calls. It's deliberately closed with no multi-tasking because that's way the typcial, non-techie user will get the most out of it.

Unless you're a CSSE student, there's hardly anything that this wouldn't make easier for a typical student. Opens and saves docuemnts as MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel. There's wireless printing, which is widely available in the college now. Keyboard would probably improve things though. Also, you can carry around all your notes from JSTOR or Moodle for reading or editing - half the books you'd study in English are available for free via iBooks (access to Project Gutenburg)

I do think that they should supply (for download) a more open version of the OS that allows people with more tech-savvy to have more access to the device, on the understanding that you have no warranty or phone support until/unless you wipe the phone and reinstall the standard OS.

You'll get at least 10 hours of constant internet/youtube/watching video on the iPad. You won't get a virus. Ever. It might get a bit slow after a few years, but never to the dismal levels of a 2/3 year old cheap laptop (this is assuming that it is, in fact, a big iPod Touch). Because any app (game, office software, etc) has to be pre-approved by Apple to make sure it's safe, you'll never get any weird ''not working for some reason, sorry'' problems. It just works.

/my views on, and defense of, iPad.

This is all pretty true. The average user doesn't know how to fully use an operating system like Windows or Linux, which is why the "safety nets" like anti-virus are there. If the user knows how to properly use a system then they'll never have to reformat and the laptop/computer won't "slow down over time".

Ms. Koi

Just read the blog...brilliant stuff! I'm delighted it went so well.

leopoldbloom

cian1500ww wrote: »

The iPad to me sounds like an over-glorified netbook tbh...

But will it blend? That is the question.

http://bit.ly/9xpaoc

Norrdeth

Take that commercialisation!

Rozabeez

Shutter Island any good?

CnaG

leopoldbloom wrote: »

But will it blend? That is the question.

http://bit.ly/9xpaoc

I had to watch that with the sound off, so maybe he explained, but why, why would someone do that? :eek:

The guy

cian1500ww wrote: »

The iPad to me sounds like an over-glorified netbook tbh...

But it's white and endorsed by Steve Jobs.

Really I don't see why a laptop with Linux can't be bought otherwise, honestly if you're trying to prevent a computer from becoming bloated.

Or well maintain windows xp well.

Norrdeth

Yeah I've had Xp for almost 3 years now and it's as fast as ever, switched to FF and then more recently to Chrome.
Have Avast anti-virus which is much better than Norton I think, maybe just because it's free but I do regular cleans with it, and it can spot a bad site or malicious file a mile off, so that's pretty cool.
Also I regularly delete files I don't use and have an external HD for all the important stuff.

princess_calico

leopoldbloom wrote: »

To move aside from the glorified ipod touch debate slightly...

Published days one - three of my congress report if anyone wants a gawk.

http://aengusmaynooth.wordpress.com/

"Me Speaking to USI Congress 2010 about weakening the student lobby"


That picture is awesome!

Effluo

banquo wrote: »

Think even of the typical 1st year student with their new Dell laptop.

Dell are the worst offenders, though you get what you pay for.

i-pad:
It just works.

The argument I would put to you is that some versions of linux are so user friendly these days and also have all the benefits of the Mac OS then why spend all your money on a mac just so you don't get viruses?

Also the target market for the i-pad is not the 1st year student nor is it your mother. The people who buy these things are generally professionals who just like the look of the thing and think "it's amazing :cool: *everyone will think i'm cool now".

The only thing special about anything "i" or "mac" is the marketing behind the very normal product with a great touchscreen.


I don't think Dell are not that bad or at least not that much worse than everyone else, but laptops in general imo are just not the greatest idea. The driving force in the market right now is portability, which isn't a good thing certainly for reliability or speed anyway.

Most problems with computers + laptops are software issues.
If a computer slows down over time it's generally to do with Windows more than anything. Updates "bloating" the OS and this is what's generally the culprit which slows older computers down. You said yourself that doing a full reinstall helps greatly with speed.

A good example of this is if you get a pc dual booted with linux + an older version of Windows. As long as the Hard-drive is ok then you'll see in booting + running linux on the same computer that it's not really the components at fault.

If you run xp sp3 on any pc today it'll be way slower than it was before any system pack and strangely enough Vista just got quite a bit slower recently too after the release of W7 :rolleyes:

That's my 2cents on your 2cents lol

Ataxia

There are now 4 cents.

The guy

Norrdeth wrote: »

Yeah I've had Xp for almost 3 years now and it's as fast as ever, switched to FF and then more recently to Chrome.
Have Avast anti-virus which is much better than Norton I think, maybe just because it's free but I do regular cleans with it, and it can spot a bad site or malicious file a mile off, so that's pretty cool.
Also I regularly delete files I don't use and have an external HD for all the important stuff.

Effluo wrote: »

The argument I would put to you is that some versions of linux are so user friendly these days and also have all the benefits of the Mac OS then why spend all your money on a mac just so you don't get viruses?

Also the target market for the i-pad is not the 1st year student nor is it your mother. The people who buy these things are generally professionals who just like the look of the thing and think "it's amazing :cool: *everyone will think i'm cool now".

The only thing special about anything "i" or "mac" is the marketing behind the very normal product with a great touchscreen.


I don't think Dell are not that bad or at least not that much worse than everyone else, but laptops in general imo are just not the greatest idea. The driving force in the market right now is portability, which isn't a good thing certainly for reliability or speed anyway.

Most problems with computers + laptops are software issues.
If a computer slows down over time it's generally to do with Windows more than anything. Updates "bloating" the OS and this is what's generally the culprit which slows older computers down. You said yourself that doing a full reinstall helps greatly with speed.

A good example of this is if you get a pc dual booted with linux + an older version of Windows. As long as the Hard-drive is ok then you'll see in booting + running linux on the same computer that it's not really the components at fault.

If you run xp sp3 on any pc today it'll be way slower than it was before any system pack and strangely enough Vista just got quite a bit slower recently too after the release of W7 :rolleyes:

That's my 2cents on your 2cents lol

I've had xp on my parents computer which was I used for years before I got my own computer, and xp on my own computer for eight years now.

If you take care of a system well it will run fine, xp included you have to be stupid to let in viruses or not be able to clean them efficiently, besides, I like being able to run games so that's why I choose windows.

I agree with Effluo that the target market for the iPad is not the first year or the granny but the professional who thinks it looks good.

mickstupp

I despise loan recalls.

However, it's marginally cheaper for me to pay the late fees than to travel all the way to Maynooth... so screw your recall. Whatever about during normal weeks, but when it's during a reading/study/essay week when they know people aren't around... they can sod off.

ScissorPaperRock

mickstupp wrote: »

I despise loan recalls.

However, it's marginally cheaper for me to pay the late fees than to travel all the way to Maynooth... so screw your recall. Whatever about during normal weeks, but when it's during a reading/study/essay week when they know people aren't around... they can sod off.

I'm in the same boat!

XxMCRxBabyxX

mickstupp wrote: »

I despise loan recalls.

However, it's marginally cheaper for me to pay the late fees than to travel all the way to Maynooth... so screw your recall. Whatever about during normal weeks, but when it's during a reading/study/essay week when they know people aren't around... they can sod off.

Try have the Library accuse you of having a book you've never heard of and then try to make you pay a lost book fee - a minimum of €30! Don't trust em anymore.

My Rant - The Whole Story

And the final result