RyanMcGreal

1572 ms·

3331.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
I run a modestly popular (around 10,000 page views a day) civic affairs website that used to be utterly deluged with spam. The site was becoming unusable and unmanageable, and I had to do something about it. I wanted to avoid image captchas
3332.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
Because capitalism is built on a series of MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL transactions. It's not only that: capitalism is also built extensively on explicit or implied social norms that cultivate customer loyalty to a company that makes and keeps
3333.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
FTA: The point is, as much as I like Apple's attention to detail, its outstanding industrial design, I can't justify buying a product that's not really mine. Call me spoiled, but using stuff like Linux made me feel I am really in control.
3334.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
"Saddled with DRM", how exactly? Amazon reserves the right to delete files from your device if it decides they violate Amazon's terms of service. That in itself is enough DRM to keep me away.
3335.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
Apple has taken Microsoft's place as the biggest bully on the block. Microsoft seems closed and bullying next to the FS/OSS communities, but its success among proprietary vendors has traditionally been a result of its relative openness
3336.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
Again, that's because in the huge interim between IE6 and IE7, the other browsers caught up to IE and then pulled way ahead.
3337.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
wget http://progit.org/book/
3338.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
I have no interest in touching it as long as it's still saddled with DRM. That's the real deal-breaker for me.
3339.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
In the comments, Jeff writes: I'm saying you should avoid using the rusted screwdriver which is liable to burst into fragments and cause a crippling hand wound at any time! This is why friends don't let friends Comment While Defensive. XP
3340.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
FB/YT/Twitter ... have potential to make their investors infinitely rich in the not too distant future. Yes, but how ? And what is stopping them from doing it already? Edit: I understand that Google is working on algorithms that will l
3341.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
Commentary should still be evidence-based and fact-checked.
3342.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
Yes, that's what makes me nervous. I remember back in 1999 listening to a startup CFO saying her company was having cash-flow problems and needed more VC funding, and thinking that what they really needed was a revenue stream . (That was w
3343.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
Agreed. I don't think it would be practical or even beneficial for me to turn off. However, I think I need to get better at somehow reducing my exposure to the sheer, full-spectrum flow of stuff - particularly the trivialities - that consum
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by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
He's someone who writes code for homself, then makes it available to people in case they might find it useful. That actually sounds like an excellent definition for a big fraction of source developers. One of the many benefits of open sou
3345.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
It's a little mysterious how Twitter manages to stay in business now, given that they don't seem to charge anyone for anything.
3346.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
I recently returned from a little over a week at a cottage with no phone, let alone internet. It was by no means low-tech - we mastered the art of the the frozen margarita, one guest's mp3 player played a seemingly endless collection of gri
3347.
by RyanMcGreal 17y ago
"I don't think the GPL had this usage in mind when it was written." I think that's the author's point: freedom and openness are not the same thing. The GPL makes software free in the sense that any programmer can see, use and modify the c