Computers are our problem

[Mike Mitchell]

Look, people are getting BORED with computers! They are fed up with
most of what computers mean to them. Computers only mean fun when
you're playing a game, which is by far and away the biggest pastime
people indulge in at their computers. Even at work when the boss isn't
looking, games are being played all over the world. PC World is chock
full of games. New games are appearing all the time. The Sims is
probably the most widely played game of all time, and what is it
about? Creating the kinds of societal interactions we used to do in
real life - you know, when we talked to the neighbours, bought goods
at the Mom & Pop store and spoke to others in the queue, or joined in
at the local hop at harvest time. Now we can't stand the neighbours,
so we just buy our own version of unreal life for a few bucks and can
make it do the kinds of things our neighbours would never dream of
doing. But using computers for their own sake? Programming as a
pastime? Fugeddaboutit! Hardly anyone can be bothered anymore to
create their own home page on the web. Boring! We are so inundated
with crapola from all quarters to do with computing that we just long
for a fine day when we can go fishing, or rambling, or cycle riding.
Or, wait for it, reading! Yes, reading! Borders yesterday was crammed
full to bursting. Blackwells was pretty full, too. People aren't
letting up in buying books. They can't get enough to read. Real books.
Real handy. On paper. In bed. On the train. On the toilet. Just think
how laughably inadequate all computers are in most situations! The
tablet PC in the bathroom? I don't think so! People are getting fed up
with and turned off by the hype which computer manufacturers and
software vendors keep feeding us. The promise of the Shangri-la to
come is always around the next corner, always around the next upgrade,
not this cloud, but always the next one that will really have the
silver lining, promise! And so it goes, year in, year out. Yawn.
That's what most of the world is doing right now. Yawning. When they
hear the word "computer" they think virus, pornography, child abuse,
financial scam, invasion of privacy, lack of freedom. In short,
nothing much good about it to speak of. The internet is fast becoming
a virtual quagmire of insufficient bandwidth to carry all the spam and
unwanted advertising. Imagine reading a book, then having someone
contrinually lean over your shoulder and shouting in your ear with yet
another offer: "Hey, look, you gotta see this!" Eff off, can't you see
I'm trying to read War and Peace in quiet?" Many millions of citizens
will never be equipped with broadband, unless they move close to the
city, but who cares when you can buy a computer game for a few bucks
and that's a lot more fun anyway than waiting around interminably for
the 'net to deliver - and you didn't need to give your name and
address to anybody. Meanwhile, most sites are first and foremost made
to look good, and provide information (what information?) second. And
then the information, if and when unearthed among the thousands of
search engine hits, is out of date, or inappropriate, or libellous in
more than one country. Plus, you never know what you're downloading
into your computer - trojans, spyware, life's so fantastic, living at
the cutting edge the whole time. Not!

As the IT market for jobs steadily gets worse and worse, and employers
realise that downsizing can be achieved without losing functionality,
computers, hopefully, will increasingly be seen just as mundane tools
to assist some of the things we do and nothing more. Certainly not the
license to print money like there's no tomorrow as many have seen IT
over the past ten years. Build a building and imagine your great-great
grand-children walking through it in two, three, four hundred years.
Build some software, and I doubt it will even be around in five years'
time, judging by the fickleness of the market for jumped up
applications and trumped up innovations we think we cannot possibly
exist without.

And all because we're bored stiff with computers. Time to try
gardening and actually get some benefit from something!

MM

[Jens]

> And all because we're bored stiff with computers. Time to try
> gardening and actually get some benefit from something!

Please do Mike, so we don't have to read your stupid remarks time and time
again.
But then again, if you build a garden today, I doubt that in a few hundred
years your children will run around in it. A garden happens to be the same
as a house or software for that matter, if you don't do any maintenance and
if you don't rebuild some deteriorated sections now and then, the whole
thing falls apart.
I suspect in a few years time your garden will have the most beautiful
nettles of Great Brittain ...

Jens

[Larry Serflaten]

"Mike Mitchell" <kylix_is@yahoo.co.uk> wrote much more than I care to re-post

> Look, people are getting BORED with computers!
> We are so inundated
> with crapola from all quarters to do with computing that we just long
> for a fine day when we can go fishing, or rambling, or cycle riding.
> When they
> hear the word "computer" they think virus, pornography, child abuse,
> financial scam, invasion of privacy, lack of freedom. In short,
> nothing much good about it to speak of.

You're a little too late, and you picked the wrong technology.

Telephones destroyed society. Before we had telephones people had
to greet eachother face to face, or write a letter. World events were not
a major concern because the 'news' was always delayed by whatever
amount of time it took to travel the globe.

IE: Oh, there's a plauge going on in Africa? I wonder how its doing now....

If you wanted to buy something, you went to the store and made the deal
with cash on the barrel, or a handshke, in person. If you wanted to visit
a friend, you took time out of your schedule and paid them a visit, in person.
And on, and on....

With the advent ot the telephone, the news travels faster than normal people
are able to react to it. And there is that whole business with telephones glued
to the ear of persons who are supposed to be doing other tasks, like in a
meeting, at a movie, or driving a car.

No, Mike it was telephones that degraded society, and computers are just
an extension on that same theme....

No wait, it was ships. Ships brought people to places there were never intended
to be. It was ships that brought the pilgrims to America, and the Spanish, and
all the rest, that took over the land from the native inhabitants. They had a peaceful
life, for the most part, until ships brought in the foreigners.

No, wait, fire, that's it. Fire has caused more harm than good.....

Here's a free clue Mike:
If you go looking for the worst in people, you can generally find it.....

LFS

[Mike Mitchell]

On Tue, 31 Dec 2002 10:47:32 -0600, "Larry Serflaten"
<serflaten@usinternet.com> wrote:

>If you go looking for the worst in people, you can generally find it.....

Hey, you got THAT right!!!

MM

[Mike Mitchell]

On Tue, 31 Dec 2002 15:14:36 +0100, "Jens" <jens@esalar.be> wrote:

>Please do Mike, so we don't have to read your stupid remarks time and time
>again.

Jens, no one is forcing you to read anything, not even in Belgium,
home to delicious fries with mayonnaise! But just tell me where the
interest is now. Where did it all go? The computer journals in the UK
are but shadows of their former selves. They put the same old,
tired-looking CD-ROM collections on the front with dozens of utilities
no one's interested in, trying to garner some vague, fleeting glance
from the punters. If anything, these freebie CDs with full versions of
software that cost hundreds of bucks a few years ago just reinforce
the throwaway discardability of most consumer software, as the vendors
continually release new versions to grab our cash when in many cases
the original version was snappier, easier to understand and use,
cheaper, and better value for money. The games mags on the other hand
are multiplying like rabbits. I hardly see anybody now at the
newsstand shelves where the computer mags are. I do see some folks
picking up a copy of an internet mag, or a computer mag every now and
again. But the games mags are a different story. The kids crowd around
them with great enthusiasm.

Games are big business. But databases? Web sites? Spreadsheets? Word
processing? Get real! Most people don't write anything nowadays that
isn't either in an SMS text message or in an e-mail, and then what
they do write is full of spelling mistakes, bad grammar, poor usage,
and other exhibits of a complete failure in basic education. The few
million people in the world who call themselves programmers are a mere
drop of saliva in the oceans of the general population. Computing,
apart from hard-core ERP business computing with which the subjects
and products we discuss in this ng have little in common, is pretty
much a minority affair. Easily comparable with tiddlywinks marathons
or playing the violin. There are many more people in the world who
play chess, for example, than write software, yet chess itself is but
a minority pastime. I'd like to know what the Fawcette stable is
currently bringing in now in terms of circulation. Certainly, in the
UK neither Borders (either branch in the West End) or PC Bookshop had
any copies of Visual Studio Magazine yesterday. Maybe they don't get a
call for it any more. But also, just read the computer press (what
little there is that isn't totally dedicated to business). My daily
broadsheet (i.e. quality) newspaper has but one brief segment on IT in
the Monday issue only. I'd say the really keen interest, excitement
even, is with all matters Linux, including Lindows. But the
Windows/PC/Home computing phase is rapidly becoming a busted flush,
unless one is talking about game playing, including sims.

>But then again, if you build a garden today, I doubt that in a few hundred
>years your children will run around in it. A garden happens to be the same
>as a house or software for that matter, if you don't do any maintenance and
>if you don't rebuild some deteriorated sections now and then, the whole
>thing falls apart.
>I suspect in a few years time your garden will have the most beautiful
>nettles of Great Brittain ...

And they will be free nettles, I will be able to make nettle beer, and
donate some nettles to anyone who asks. These won't be franchised
nettles, nor syndicated nettles. There won't be a license fee to pay,
nor any papers to sign. Just open the garden gate, pat the old dog on
his head (that's me), and pick your nettles, Great British nettles.

MM

[Michael Gautier]

Consider that the Sims Online is actually advertised on TV.

People use TV more than computers and are un-enthusiastic to the idea of
renting movies online.

Games are the most innovative applications (in total technical terms) on the
PC yearly.

Humans want pleasure more than work. Personal computers have delivered on
this only in communications and entertainment and then, little sufficiency
compared to arcades, theaters, telephones and naps on the beach on a light
breezy, sunny day.

America is a business culture and this shows in the technology media focuses
on. Viruses are important to the degree they impact the economy. Microsoft,
Linux, Oracle and IBM are reported in light of what they mean to companies.
The implicit emphasis is on numbers, logic, accounting and business
automation. To me, Microsoft and Apple are the only crossover hits that can
bring greater creativity and perceptive experiences to the end user.

What computers do now is important and may be on a path to do all the things
we need at tools. However, they may not be destined to do everything we
want.

Before computers, you had physical and mechanical devices like slide rules,
abacus, paper and so forth. Perhaps at some point we will need something
that can transcend digital and allow each human being to manipulate matter,
time and space. At that point, we each can have the choice of doing whatever
we want to the fullest potential.

[Mike Mitchell]

On Tue, 31 Dec 2002 17:33:42 -0600, "Michael Gautier"
<gautier_michael@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Consider that the Sims Online is actually advertised on TV.
>
>People use TV more than computers and are un-enthusiastic to the idea of
>renting movies online.

Well, that ain't never gonna happen here, or it won't happen at least
for years yet, since we in the UK, due to the greedy, inefficient
bunch of muppets in charge of the telephone system, have probably the
least penetration of broadband anywhere in Europe. Especially since
"broadband" here is classed as anything at or over 512K. I believe we
have about a million on broadband. Germany has seven million. Where I
live I will never, ever receive broadband. I have been told so. No
cables, you see, let alone fibre optics. Still wires 30 feet above the
ground on poles. And this merely 35 miles from London, capital of the
so-called fourth richest nation. The only time they dig up the roads
in our neck of the woods is to defuse stray WWII bombs.

In any case, what could be easier than dropping a DVD into the chute
and opening a beer? Certainly not ploughing through interminable menus
on the internet, entering access codes longer than an elephant's
willy, and then waiting for minutes, even at efficient German ADSL
download rates, for the thing to arrive. That could possibly appeal to
kids, but tired parents back from the gradgrind of earning a crust? No
way! They just want simple. Not hard.

>Games are the most innovative applications (in total technical terms) on the
>PC yearly.

Yeah, I reckon the games programmers *are* the true gurus. If only all
software was like this! Easy to learn, easy to use, and FUN! No code
to write, just grab the joystick and play, play, play! Why can't we
get software to write applications like that? The knuckleheads who
still think in terms of This.That(){}[]; == Dim Dam Dum, i.e.
cooooooddddeee, must surely see that humans only really learn by
example. That's why everyone's bored. Nothing new, not really. Only
regurgitated from five, ten years ago. And who want to play with cold
sick the whole time?

>Humans want pleasure more than work. Personal computers have delivered on
>this only in communications and entertainment and then, little sufficiency
>compared to arcades, theaters, telephones and naps on the beach on a light
>breezy, sunny day.

But there ARE applications, or user enhancements, as I prefer to call
them, which could be of great help. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy introduced the idea of a babelfish. Well, it's about time!
People think it's marvellous when I pop across to Germany and speak
"their tongue" (which sounds a bit rude, but that's probably just my
mind thinking out loud), yet that's only because I learned it during
many years of living there. But when I go to France, or Norway, or
just about anywhere else where they speak "foreign", I'm just as
stuffed as most other visitors to Germany are. A babelfish would be
absolutely marvellous. Truly useful, and for so many millions of
people. A babelfish could go a long way to settling scores that
otherwise lead to wars, just by enabling both sides to call a spade a
spade in their own language and knowing that the others understand.

But are we anywhere near a babelfish? Not last time I looked. Hardly,
even, any really, REALLY good voice recognition software either. I
mean, software which I don't first have to train for hours, days or
weeks before it will understand a modicum of what I say. But are the
folks in Redmond, in Scotts Valley, in Santa Clara and elsewhere
working on babelfish? Probably not, since most Americans are still
barely aware of what "foreign" means. I remember when we had to
explain to American programmers in the 1970s what umlauts were and why
they couldn't just be omitted in Europe (aka "Europeland").

But a babelfish would sell in the hundreds of millions across the
globe. It would be a truly useful adjunct to most humans' lives. Stick
it in your ear and forget it, like a hearing aid. We don't think twice
about donning a pair of specs, yet in days gone by, it would have
seemed like magic to be able to avoid aiming the bow and arrow at
granny, just because you thought she looked like the enemy at a
distance. Just think how many grannies had to die before people
realised that specs would be really cool.

>America is a business culture and this shows in the technology media focuses
>on. Viruses are important to the degree they impact the economy. Microsoft,
>Linux, Oracle and IBM are reported in light of what they mean to companies.
>The implicit emphasis is on numbers, logic, accounting and business
>automation. To me, Microsoft and Apple are the only crossover hits that can
>bring greater creativity and perceptive experiences to the end user.
>
>What computers do now is important and may be on a path to do all the things
>we need at tools. However, they may not be destined to do everything we
>want.

What is it that we w..a...n...t?

Most of us want to live in freedom, find pleasure, find love, nurture
children, and coast into old age and ultimate death surrounded by
family and history and a sense of having been here and having the
feeling that we achieved something. Tell me, where exactly do
computers figure in all of that?

Computers can help us to learn to read and add up. They could help us
to understand other people from foreign countries and let them
understand us. But can computers do anything much when we're out
rambling across the fields, fishing for salmon, flying a kite, eating
our supper, sleeping soundly?

So again, I ask, what is it that we think we want from computers?

>Before computers, you had physical and mechanical devices like slide rules,
>abacus, paper and so forth. Perhaps at some point we will need something
>that can transcend digital and allow each human being to manipulate matter,
>time and space. At that point, we each can have the choice of doing whatever
>we want to the fullest potential.

Computers of the 1990s should now be put in the box marked "Boring
toys - only to be taken out when needed". We need to start looking
forward, beyond the physical contraption we call a computer. Computers
are still seen by companies primarily as a means to make money, and
lots of it. $40bn of it even. That's *our* money, by the way. Even
when the Government spends it, it's still *our* money. We were the
ones who slaved over a hot spreadsheet at work for hours on end,
trying to fiddle the figures to satisfy the CEO's projected bonus. We
were the ones flipping burgers, digging ditches, ploughing fields, and
painting walls for the economy. We need to start looking forward to
new kinds of computing, where man and machine (or, less dangerously,
woman and machine) could be combined to enhance humans' productivity,
say. Or musical talent. Or numerical skills. Or social skills.

Suppose a checkout operator could remember all the prices of all the
goods throughout the entire store, could take one look at your basket
or trolley load of goods, tell you the total cost and give you the
correct change, all without the confinement of a cash register hooked
up to a computer and a barcode reader. You would be able to have a
checkout operator anywhere in the store. Wherever a queue builds, a
"floor walker" operator could quickly process the customers locally,
so that they could pay for what they had already selected and go,
without having to queue for ages at those fixed points they call
"checkouts".

There are many other ways where computers could help us. But all the
software companies seem to be able to do is produce the same old
stuff, just with yet another skin on to make it look new and exciting.
Well, we're not falling for it any longer! I can tell.

MM

[Michael Gautier]

A guy over in U.K. (London, I think) is working on interfacing the brain
with computer. His small experiments have been successful so far.

Other scientists are predicting brain to brain communication. I call it
"Mental Network". It will be beyond the Internet and allow billions
worldwide to communicate in unimaginable ways.

Instead of Juries of a dozen, the whole world could be its own judge.

If we put micro circuitry and nano-biomechanical extensions to all materials
(even the smallest fiber) we can collectively create buildings, clothes and
"virtually" manipulate matter.

Of course under this system, our power would initially extend to earth.

Computing will be less of an external function and reform to the most
powerful computer of all, the brain.

If we want pleasure, we can mentally turn off the physical world concious
input and switch into either a virtual world of our making or virtual
communities. Perhaps we could experience physical and virtual
simultaneously.

That is how computing will be come fun.

As far as obsolesence goes, I think since software development is becoming
institutionalized and settled in definition/makeup there is no incentive for
change.

Competition won't do it. Even if they broke up Microsoft, it would not
propel us into the future any faster.

Bill Gates' vision is for a fully digital infrastructure based on Microsoft
technology.

This may go a long way, but his timeframe may be a bit more than some can
bear.

In the meantime, movements in biology, chemistry and quantum physics do not
involve silicon and digital stuff.

There discoveries could reshape this whole thing.

[Mike Mitchell]

On Wed, 1 Jan 2003 22:41:50 -0600, "Michael Gautier"
<gautier_michael@hotmail.com> wrote:

>There discoveries could reshape this whole thing.

How refreshing to see that others, too, can reflect upon the stalemate
which modern computing has got itself into! I think the future can be
very exciting, but we have got a lot of thinking to do before we get
there. Namely, whether we will indeed accept it all, or how we might
protest if we didn't accept it. Designer babies, for example. I'm
pretty sure there's a "computer" of some kind involved there. But
imagine if cloning did take off despite objections from the public
(after all, there are many who find abortion - any and all abortion -
simply unacceptable), how far would we be prepared to go along with
it? Or could there be a backlash where, say, the American protestant
right threatened to boycott any country which promoted that kind of
technology or anything related to it, even if patently there was a
valid use for it, if only to reduce infant mortality. Computers - and
thus programmers - will play a significant role in many new
technologies, just as word processing was seen initially as just a
different form of typewriting.

As for brain-to-brain communication, there will be an ENORMOUS
problem! And that is our privacy, or suddenly the lack of it. Just
imagine how many thoughts each of us has each day that we wouldn't
want even our closest family members (maybe especially not them!) to
know about. Imagine if a future Blunkett (the UK's Home Secretary -
the bloke who runs the cops) introduced forehead readouts, whereby you
would be obliged to afix such a device before setting off, so that any
officer could tell at a glance what you were thinking at any moment?
Pie in the sky now, but in 20, 30, 40 years' time? What if computers
will assist one day in scanning the brain of a dead person and
displaying a picture of their final moments, maybe just before they
were hit over the head by an assassin - or the police?

There are all sorts of things computers could be doing, and some of
them fascinating and exciting. But I just cannot seem to get excited
any longer over typical code - in any language. It's all so boringly
familiar.

MM

[Michael Gautier]

Cloning might be too tempting to the masses of folks wanting to extend their
lives. Human survival instincts may override higher conscious principles.



Of course, if they could create and perfect the science of transfer thoughts
to a computer, imagine if a psycho got into the system. You would have a
virus unheard of.



There is the chance that Symantec would create an antivirus program that can
make crazy people sane.



One possibility with brain to brain technology is the idea of being able to
control what thought you transmit. But you'd have to be on the lookout for
hackers trying to get into your mind. Then you'd really know what women
think.



I read somewhere how they are trying to clone Jesus.
http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00b/20001013b.htm



To use words from creative journalists, "untimely deaths" may be a thing of
the past.



http://globalfreepress.org/43/bushism.shtml



http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/01/01/banned.bushisms.reut/index.html



With computer languages, VB was supposed to be the English like language.
With the use of keywords and syntax, VB is more of a strict subset of
English. As the bio computing sciences evolve, it is conceivable that
computers based off of that science would have the ability to receive
instructions in spoken English rather than a narrowed form.

[Mike Mitchell]

On Thu, 2 Jan 2003 17:16:22 -0600, "Michael Gautier"
<gautier_michael@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Cloning might be too tempting to the masses of folks wanting to extend their
>lives. Human survival instincts may override higher conscious principles.

Cloning, even if banned, would be available to some folks illegally,
on the black market, as long as they could pay. The US tried
prohibition. Didn't work. Lots of free field testing, though, for the
Thompson machine gun. Cloning will see huge increases in the stock
price of test tube manufacturers.

>Of course, if they could create and perfect the science of transfer thoughts
>to a computer, imagine if a psycho got into the system. You would have a
>virus unheard of.

>
>There is the chance that Symantec would create an antivirus program that can
>make crazy people sane.

Hey, just think what that could do for the White House hawks! The
doves could at long last say, ya see, we do make sense!


>One possibility with brain to brain technology is the idea of being able to
>control what thought you transmit. But you'd have to be on the lookout for
>hackers trying to get into your mind. Then you'd really know what women
>think.

Yeah: "Shopping, does my bum look in this, musn't cry, MUSN'T cry, oh.
no, the neighbour's seen me, no hot water again, blasted reverse gear,
where did that fingernail go, must move to bigger house/better
neighbourhood/flashier car, my hair's a mess, where IS that
fingernail, does my bum look big in this, not before lunch."


>I read somewhere how they are trying to clone Jesus.
>http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00b/20001013b.htm

God, what will he say?

>
>To use words from creative journalists, "untimely deaths" may be a thing of
>the past.

The problem may be the simple fact of killing anybody. Imagine if
soldiers have to kill each other on the battlefield over and over
again, like Groundhog Day, because of all the clones that keep popping
back up, like those Santa Clauses with lead weights in their bottoms.
This could give a whole new meaning to war. Maybe the trick would be,
instead of killing the foe, you threaten to overwhelm him by cloning
the entire population a million times over.

>http://globalfreepress.org/43/bushism.shtml

These never fail to start me off! Perhaps that's why Blair keeps going
over there. He figures, well if Dubya can win despite the impediments,
Blair could pick up a few tips for later, when the voters of Britain
decide he's ballsed it up for long enough. Like right now.

>
>http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/01/01/banned.bushisms.reut/index.html
>
>
>With computer languages, VB was supposed to be the English like language.
>With the use of keywords and syntax, VB is more of a strict subset of
>English. As the bio computing sciences evolve, it is conceivable that
>computers based off of that science would have the ability to receive
>instructions in spoken English rather than a narrowed form.

Exactly! VB was amenable to so many people, because you didn't need to
be a propeller head to do something useful with it. Understanding
English was enough to get started. But obviously Microsoft could never
have properly understood this, otherwise they wouldn't have screwed up
the language so with VB.Net. Imagine trying to explain OOP to
non-programmers!

MM

[Zane Thomas]

Mike,

>Computers only mean fun when
>you're playing a game

Sometimes it's fun to laugh at your foolish posts too.


--

*--------={ Fine Art for .NET }=--------*
| .Net Components @ www.abderaware.com |
*---------------------------------------*

Turn on, tune in, download.
zane a@t abderaware.com

[Mike Mitchell]

On Sun, 05 Jan 2003 04:43:53 GMT, zane@abderaware.com (Zane Thomas)
wrote:

>Mike,
>
>>Computers only mean fun when
>>you're playing a game
>
>Sometimes it's fun to laugh at your foolish posts too.

Goodness! You're a shy lad, you! Where've you been? Earning a crust, I
hope! Not like us bunch of no-hopers, wasting our lives in the slough
of despond, eh? So, what's it like where you are now, what with all
that fun, like?

MM

[Zane Thomas]

Mike,

>Goodness! You're a shy lad, you! Where've you been? Earning a crust, I
>hope!

Busy, everyone should visit my website to see all the new components:
www.abderaware.com - there are a few more already in the release queue and
a couple more in development at the moment.

>Not like us bunch of no-hopers, wasting our lives in the slough
>of despond, eh?

Right - I'm having a blast designing some new UI code using all and only
design patterns from the GOF's classic book _Design Patterns_. It's an
exercise of sorts, and a work of art beyond that. :-)


--

*--------={ Fine Art for .NET }=--------*
| .Net Components @ www.abderaware.com |
*---------------------------------------*

Turn on, tune in, download.
zane a@t abderaware.com

[Larry Serflaten]

"Zane Thomas" <zane@abderaware.com> wrote
>
> Busy, everyone should visit my website to see all the new components:
> www.abderaware.com - there are a few more already in the release queue and
> a couple more in development at the moment.

I see neither of your FTP (TCP or UDP) controls mention BITS.

Do you plan to provide a BITS enabled version?
Ref: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/bits/bits/bits_start_page.asp

Just checking....

LFS

[Zane Thomas]

Larry,

>Do you plan to provide a BITS enabled version?

Hadn't planned on it - it's not an FTP thing anyway. :-)


--

*--------={ Fine Art for .NET }=--------*
| .Net Components @ www.abderaware.com |
*---------------------------------------*

Turn on, tune in, download.
zane a@t abderaware.com

[Phil Weber]

> Everyone should visit my website to see all the
> new components: www.abderaware.com...

Requests: An NNTP Server, and more ASP.NET components, please! This guy has
some interesting ideas: http://www.metabuilders.com/
--
Phil Weber

[Zane Thomas]

Phil,

>Requests: An NNTP Server ...

After the free copy you got I'm not sure I would have any further
requests. :-)

> ... and more ASP.NET components, please!

On my ever-growing, never-shrinking, list of things I could do!


--

*--------={ Fine Art for .NET }=--------*
| .Net Components @ www.abderaware.com |
*---------------------------------------*

Turn on, tune in, download.
zane a@t abderaware.com

[Phil Weber]

> After the free copy you got I'm not sure I would have
> any further requests. :-)

Zane: Hey, I've paid for more than one of your components! ;-)

I'm using Mabry's NNTP server in a .NET Windows Service via COM Interop. I'd
prefer to use a native .NET component. Also, there are some issues with the
Mabry component that I hope would be addressed in an Abderaware version.
--
Phil Weber

[Zane Thomas]

Phil,

>I'm using Mabry's NNTP server in a .NET Windows Service via COM Interop. I'd
>prefer to use a native .NET component.

I can understand that.

>Also, there are some issues with the
>Mabry component that I hope would be addressed in an Abderaware version.

To be perfectly honest I can't say that an NNTP server is high on my list,
the demand just isn't there. However Abderaware is still getting off the
ground and if you (or anyone) needs custom code written ping me via email.



--

*--------={ Fine Art for .NET }=--------*
| .Net Components @ www.abderaware.com |
*---------------------------------------*

Turn on, tune in, download.
zane a@t abderaware.com

[RabidDog]

Mike, you make some good points and so does everyone else.

As in everything in life there have to be balances and us as humans struggle to find balances. We are creatures of habit.

In my opinion, as a developer, computers are tools. Plain and simple. Properly designed and developed applications make life a breeze when trying to retrieve and sort vast amounts of data. They are like the hammer, screw driver and pliers of modern civilization.

They are also the baine of our existence. They have allowed us to disassociate ourselves (well hypothetically at least because a computer can't make anyone do anything).

But if you look at the pit falls of computer use, internet abuse and all other "evil" things associated with technology it comes down to one thing. It is not the computers that are the problem, it is the users of the computers / technology that are the problem.

People enjoy games because it is a form of escapisim (yes I am guilty of that too). A world were we can get away from the all the issues we have had to deal with. 9/10 times those issues are related back to people, not technology. This one was an ahole, that one wouldn't listen etc etc.

Our problem is not computers but infact ourselves. Our constant need to better ourselves and strive for new heights to prove that we are worth something. We judge ourselves by the amount we gain in our lives.

Rather than measure ourselves by the way we raise our children (morally, emotionally etc) we would rather look at the toys we own, the cars we drive and the house/s we own. Rather than measure what we put back into society we measure what we take out of society. "Never take more than you need and if you receive more pass it on" is a motto I attempt to live by each day. Remember, the one who dies with the most toys, still dies but the legacy you leave in your children lives forever.

So when it all comes to pass and the dust settles we notice the only constant in our algorithms of self destruction, is ourselves.