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Roy Schestowitz wrote:

> Richard,
>
> Truly... is it not enough to convince that Windows is a Toy O/S?

Er. what?

Apart from the fact that that sentence does not semantically scan I really
don't know what your point is.

> I have run
> SuSE

What is a SuSE?

> Speaking of which, Vista

Vista. What is a Vista?

> will be worse in terms of hardware requirements
> [1]... much worse, so brace yourself (or spend more money on a new machine
> with new software licences).

I don't need to pay for Microsoft for specific operating system licences.
You *are* talking about Microsoft, aren't you?

[bill gates joke]

> Stop. *friendly smile* That's from Brad Templeton (at least a variant of
> it). He hates it when people copy that.

Er, what? I can't tell a public domain joke?

Cheers
Richard.

__/ [rf] on Tuesday 30 August 2005 13:50 \__

Hi Richard,

I hope I did not appear cold in my previous message. It was no intended to
appear this way.

> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Richard,
>>
>> Truly... is it not enough to convince that Windows is a Toy O/S?
>
> Er. what?
>
> Apart from the fact that that sentence does not semantically scan I really
> don't know what your point is.


I don't proofread properly, so I left out the word "you" before "Windows". I
placed my reply too far below the text it was referring to, which discussed
the bloated and opaque Windows Registry system.


>> I have run
>> SuSE
>
> What is a SuSE?


It is one of the (if not just "the") most reliable Linux distributions. Els
got it installed quite recently as well.


>> Speaking of which, Vista
>
> Vista. What is a Vista?


It is the next version of Windows (formerly called Longhorn) which is due to
be released in September 2006 if I recall correctly. It is currently in
beta 1, or maybe alpha.


>> will be worse in terms of hardware requirements
>> [1]... much worse, so brace yourself (or spend more money on a new
>> [machine
>> with new software licences).
>
> I don't need to pay for Microsoft for specific operating system licences.
> You *are* talking about Microsoft, aren't you?


Yes, buying Windows-based hardware is rather expensive these days.


> [bill gates joke]
>
>> Stop. *friendly smile* That's from Brad Templeton (at least a variant of
>> it). He hates it when people copy that.
>
> Er, what? I can't tell a public domain joke?


*smile* I know, I know...

Brad speaks a lot about public domain too... in fact, his page on copyrights
is almost enough to pay his bills owing to advertisements.

http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

And his _very_ recent mentioning of the income aspect:

http://ideas.4brad.com/node/264

Roy

--
Roy S. Schestowitz "Hack to learn, don't learn to hack"
http://Schestowitz.com

Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> __/ [rf] on Tuesday 30 August 2005 13:50 \__
>
> Hi Richard,
>
> I hope I did not appear cold in my previous message. It was no intended to
> appear this way.

Not at all. I simply did not understand you.

> > Apart from the fact that that sentence does not semantically scan I
really
> > don't know what your point is.
>
>
> I don't proofread properly, so I left out the word "you" before "Windows".
I
> placed my reply too far below the text it was referring to, which
discussed
> the bloated and opaque Windows Registry system.

Er, well, OK, I still don't understand you.

> > What is a SuSE?

> It is one of the (if not just "the") most reliable Linux distributions.
Els
> got it installed quite recently as well.

Oh. I don't do linux.

> > Vista. What is a Vista?

> It is the next version of Windows (formerly called Longhorn) which is due
to
> be released in September 2006 if I recall correctly. It is currently in
> beta 1, or maybe alpha.

I have never heard it called Vista. I will stand corrected when Microsoft
posts me (as they do) my beta copy. I always thought it was calles Longhorn.

> >> will be worse in terms of hardware requirements

Oh, do come on. Absolute rubbish.

[following unsnipped for clarity, or lack of]

> >> [1]... much worse, so brace yourself (or spend more money on a new
> >> [machine
> >> with new software licences).
> >
> > I don't need to pay for Microsoft for specific operating system
licences.
> > You *are* talking about Microsoft, aren't you?
>
>
> Yes, buying Windows-based hardware is rather expensive these days.

What, may I ask, is "Windows-based hardware"?

In any case I stated that I do not have to spend extra money on windows
*software*. As to the hardware I have a very low end 386 machine that runs
windows XP quite admaribly. I also have a number of other "hardware"
machines that happen to run windows. They are not, however, "windows
hardware" machines.

You are beginning to sound like a standard microsoft basher.

> > [bill gates joke]

> *smile* I know, I know...
>
> Brad speaks a lot about public domain too... in fact, his page on
copyrights
> is almost enough to pay his bills owing to advertisements.

Who bloody cares. He does not own that joke. The bloke in the pub that told
it to me owns it!!

<snip links>

Yada yada

Cheers
Richard.

__/ [rf] on Tuesday 30 August 2005 14:36 \__

> Roy Schestowitz wrote:

>> I placed my reply too far below the text it was referring to, which
>> discussed the bloated and opaque Windows Registry system.
>
> Er, well, OK, I still don't understand you.


You advised Els to re-install Windows and I replied, perhaps in an
over-enthusiatic fasion, that it might be better for her to use SuSE Linux,
which she already has installed (as am I). There are many arguments, even
within the Windows community, that the Registry mechanism needs to be
revised (I have used Windows since version 3.1 so am not just blowing air).
I have a Windows computer here in the office and the O/S was installed over
a year ago, barely to have anything installed. I have slowly seen the
performance becoming so terrible that the machine is practically crippled
to function at the speed of a Pentium 1 or 2. I am brutally honest.

Re-installation is very time-consuming and the need for it should not be
necessarily be defended. There are alternative and you needn't throw them
out the window because you do not know them well.


>> > What is a SuSE?
>
>> It is one of the (if not just "the") most reliable Linux distributions.
>> Els got it installed quite recently as well.
>
> Oh. I don't do linux.


I respect that. I hope that Els will at least consider and respect my
opinion on the matter.


>> Vista. What is a Vista?
>> It is the next version of Windows (formerly called Longhorn) which is due
>> to be released in September 2006 if I recall correctly. It is currently
>> in beta 1, or maybe alpha.
>
> I have never heard it called Vista. I will stand corrected when Microsoft
> posts me (as they do) my beta copy. I always thought it was calles
> Longhorn.


I think you were feeling annoyed from this point onwards and quite unfairly
so. Longhorn was the name that persisted for years. It was bound to be the
next version of Windows, which would be released in 2006. About a month and
a half ago, Microsoft changed the name altogether. Longhorn is no more. It
has been called Vista ever since the announcement. It has reached virually
any newspaper too and the name Longhorn is deprecated.


>> >> will be worse in terms of hardware requirements
>
> Oh, do come on. Absolute rubbish.
>
> [following unsnipped for clarity, or lack of]


Have you seen a preview/screenshot of Vista (formerly Longhorn)? It
incorporates many of Apple's visual effects, e.g. transparencies and shadow
casting. Hence, it requires a lot from the hardware it runs on. That is
what people who run the beta version would say.


>> >> [1]... much worse, so brace yourself (or spend more money on a new
>> >> [machine
>> >> with new software licences).
>> >
>> > I don't need to pay for Microsoft for specific operating system
> licences.
>> > You *are* talking about Microsoft, aren't you?


I think there was a misunderstanding here. Most vendors sell computers that
are Windows-friendly and Windows-compatible. They also have the operating
system pre-installed, so a decent portion of the cost of the machine goes
to the software manufacturer.


>> Yes, buying Windows-based hardware is rather expensive these days.
>
> What, may I ask, is "Windows-based hardware"?


My aplogies. I used a poor term to refer to a 'Windows machine' or 'Windows
box' or 'Windows PC'. There is not 'Windows hardware' which is how I
mistakenly phrased it.


> In any case I stated that I do not have to spend extra money on windows
> *software*. As to the hardware I have a very low end 386 machine that
> runs windows XP quite admaribly. I also have a number of other "hardware"
> machines that happen to run windows. They are not, however, "windows
> hardware" machines.


Correct. The ambiguity or unclarity was my fault.


> You are beginning to sound like a standard microsoft basher.


The "standard Microsoft basher" will just yell out "Win sux" or "Windows is
for my mom". I have used Windows intensively for many years and I still do.
I try to convey and tell you about the bad experiences I have had with
Windows, bloated registries being one of the most frustrating ones.


> [bill gates joke]
>
> Who bloody cares. He does not own that joke. The bloke in the pub that
> told it to me owns it!!
>
> <snip links>
>
> Yada yada
>
> Cheers
> Richard.

Hope there are no hard feelings,

Roy

--
Roy S. Schestowitz Useless fact: 85% of plant life in in the oceans
http://Schestowitz.com

Let me rephrase the question. I would like to type a letter in the
textarea, but have another letter appear. For instance, when typing
the letter 'a', 'b' will appear.

The reason is that I am designing a keyboard layout for another
language. When people open the web page, and type in the textarea,
they would have chance to 'feel' the design. Of course, I will put the
graph of keyboard layout in the page.

Besides letters and symbols in standard keyboard for English, there are
several foreign symbols which will be represented by html escapes or
unicode. In my previous posting, I used the two Greek letters just as
example. If those Greek letters can be displayed, will other foreign
characters.

A Microsoft-based office in Russia is designing a new keyboard in which
each key is a small computer monitor. It can display layouts of all
languages, both natural and artificial. People don't have to memorize
layouts. Pressing a key, qwerty will disappear, and dvorak emerges.
Russia will put the keyboard in market in 2006. This is why new layout
may have a chance.

Thanks for discussion.


Jukka K. Korpela wrote:
>
> This depends on what you mean by "English keyboard". A physical keyboard
> can be configured in many ways, and switching between different keyboard
> layouts is easy as soon as you've learned how it works. The difficult part
> is to memorize the assignments or to use a cheat sheet to check them.
>
> Naturally, this also depends on the underlying system, available fonts,
> etc. And what happens to the Greek letters when the form is submitted is
> yet another story.
>
> As so often, the crucial question is "why do you ask?" Are you asking about
> browser usage, or about authoring? In the latter case, what is really the
> problem you are trying to solve?
>
> --
> Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
> Pages about Web authoring: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www.html

Previously in alt.html, rf <@invalid.com> said:

> Was writing/constructing/debugging some new software/firmware/hardware the
> other day, on the notebook. Required me to press Ctrl Mouse left button
> (that takes care of one hand) and then press a certain button on my hardware
> device (two hands used up) and *at the same time* press the insert key. What
> to do.

Use your nose!

--
Mark Parnell
http://clarkecomputers.com.au
alt.html FAQ :: http://html-faq.com/

With neither quill nor qualm, Mark Parnell quothed:

> Previously in alt.html, rf <@invalid.com> said:
>
> > Was writing/constructing/debugging some new software/firmware/hardware the
> > other day, on the notebook. Required me to press Ctrl Mouse left button
> > (that takes care of one hand) and then press a certain button on my hardware
> > device (two hands used up) and *at the same time* press the insert key. What
> > to do.
>
> Use your nose!

Perhaps his nose was at such an elevation as to make it unavailable at
the time.

--
Neredbojias
Contrary to popular belief, it is believable.

"dungping" <> wrote:

> I would like to type a letter in the
> textarea, but have another letter appear. For instance, when typing
> the letter 'a', 'b' will appear.

What you mean is probably that you would like your _visitors_ to be able to
do so when filling out a form on your page. You also seem to postulate that
their keyboards have keys for Latin letters but not the letters they would
actually want to enter.

> The reason is that I am designing a keyboard layout for another
> language.

Fine. Then HTML is not the right tool. Use a tools like keyboard layout
generator (e.g. the one available from Microsoft for free; googling should
tell you about it and a few other alternatives).

> When people open the web page, and type in the textarea,
> they would have chance to 'feel' the design.

Isn't it better to make the layout available for downloading so that they
can try it wherever they want, not just in the excuse for a surrogate of
user interface that browsers provide when displaying a form?

> Besides letters and symbols in standard keyboard for English, there are
> several foreign symbols which will be represented by html escapes or
> unicode.

I can't see how HTML escapes relate to keyboard design.

> A Microsoft-based office in Russia is designing a new keyboard in which
> each key is a small computer monitor.

It's an interesting idea - I once knew I guy who tried to patent it decades
ago. Let's hope it will become economically feasible some day. But it won't
solve all keyboard problems.

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
Pages about Web authoring: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www.html