The toilet, for the end user, is one of the simplest inventions around. Human waste goes in, you flip a lever, and the human waste is removed like magic. Its so simple that it's almost impossible to mess up the process. That is unless you're either of the two roommates I share a bathroom with. It seems like almost once a week I walk into my bathroom and find a little 'surprise' waiting for me. To tell you the truth, it's more dumbfounding then disgusting. I just don't understand how it happens. Are my roommates all 'blind flushing'? Are they so water conscious that they refuse to flush a second time no matter what? Or are they just lazy...
Read MoreRules for Self-Checkout Users
Over the last several years, Self-Checkout systems have been popping up in stores everywhere. Benefitting both the customers and the stores, these machines ease congestion in the checkout lines and reduce the staff needed to operate each register. However, I constantly come across people who abuse the system and cause what should be a quick and seamless process, to be a hideous, inefficient experience...
Read More(Update) Skunk Wars: A New Hope
[Welcome back to the continuing saga of the smelly roommate] So yesterday I came home from work and the house smelled a little bit better. I wasn't quite sure whether it was actually better or if I was sadly becoming acclimated to it. I continued going about my routine until I was approached by one of my other roommates. "Did you notice it smells a little better today", he said. I confirmed that it did and asked him if he had had a conversation with Skunky. Apparently, not only had he had a brief conversation with him, but that afterwards Skunky actually cleaned up a bunch of things, took the offered bar of soap, and hopped in the shower...
Read MoreCleaning the fridge. Is it OCD or Efficiency?
I get a lot of flack for my obsession with organization. It's not a "disorder", in that it doesn't inhibit normal functioning, but people who aren't as organized as I am find it a bit odd. What these people don't realize is that this is actually an obsession with efficiency, rather than a compulsion to clean. Take for instance last night when I asked my roommates to help clean out the fridge...
Read MoreHow to tell a roommate they reek?
Is there a proper protocol for telling a roommate that they stink? I know it sounds rude, but I'm really not sure what to do any more. We all know or will run into people who have a pungent body odor, but what we (the other clean[er] roommates) are having to deal with goes way beyond that. We're not merely talking about a small aura of smell that follows the roommate around, no. We're talking about a swinging vortex of putrid filth that is emanating from his room and taking over the house...
Read MoreAs dishes reach critical mass...
I know that not everyone on the planet is as OCD as I am, but I still cannot figure out how people can live with complete mess. Though the situation has since been rectified, a few nights ago the kitchen sink was allowed to reach "Kitchen Critical Mass" (or KCM). Which is of course the minimum amount of mess needed to cause a nuclear reaction in your kitchen...
Read MoreBrushing teeth as habit not hygiene
People familiar with many of my quirks know that I'm a cleanly person. I hate the feel of my own natural hand oils and I wash often. During the work day I even get up several times just to wash my hand before returning to my own work station. I naturally assume that the obsession with washing and being clean would carry over into all aspects of hygiene, but I've recently made a stunning revelation that my cleanly compulsion is actually overridden by habitual training when it comes to tooth brushing...
Read MoreEvolution Vs Creation
From as far back as I can remember, there has been this constant raging battle between Evolutionists and Creationists. As a child progresses through school, they're taught science, which preaches evolution, while being taught religion, which preaches creation, back at home. For a lot of people this can be not only frustrating, but downright offensive. Personally, I don't believe this has to be, or should be the case...
Read MorePoor implementation of a traffic light algorithm
For the greater part of the last year, the local transit authorities have been at work on a new light-rail system in my area. I love the idea of the system, in that it will hopefully cut down the amount of traffic on the 78 freeway, however, I have a few gripes with the system's implementation. Almost the entire system (at least the portion in my city) runs along a major road, which I use everyday, and horribly interferes with the traffic light algorithm in a major intersection...
Read MoreHigh priced software, the industry, and barriers to entry
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I've never run any studies or polled any college students, but if I had to guesstimate as to the numbers of high school and college students who own pirated software, I'd say it were nine out of every ten. Unfortunately, the software producers are making the same guesstimate and thus spend countless hours of research time to make their software crack proof. They're so scared to lose money on every pirated copy that they don't realize that they're hurting themselves more by locking people out than by allowing the insignificant pirates a lift over the barriers to entry.
Let's pick on adobe for a while. Adobe's Creative Suite software package has become and industry standard. Their flagship applications Adobe Photoshop is arguably the most powerful image editing and manipulation software on the market. However, it had two huge problems from the end user's point of view. First off, the application is a behemoth.It's almost like mastering an ancient style of martial arts; you could practice your entire life and never fully master it. Secondly, and even more important to potential adopters, it is far too expensive for the average person to justify trying it out. The full version of Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended retails for $999. The applications costs almost as much as the computer you're going to need to run it at full capacity.
How can your average Joe, wanting to get into Photoshop, afford to throw out that much money just to attempt to adopt a new software platform? The fact is that they can't. And they don't. If your average Joe is going to pick up Photoshop, he is going to have to pirate it. But is this really as bad for Adobe as they might thing? In my opinion no. In fact, I think your average Joe pirating Photoshop is actually going to potentially make Adobe more money in the grand scheme of things.
It's simple logic: Only people who are extremely skilled with photoshop are going to justify paying for it. Furthermore, only people who use it on a normal basis are going to be extremely skilled with it. Therefore, you need to get copies of Photoshop into the hands of your average Joes so they can become your future customers.
Here's an example: Back when I was Junior High, a friend of mine gave me a copy of a CD that his father had brought back from Japan for him. The CD was called "The Installer" and it contained somewhere around 200 different software applications and their corresponding serial numbers. One of these applications happened to be Adobe Photoshop (4.0). At this point in time, I had never heard of photoshop, never seen a copy of it, or really even knew what it was for, however I installed it and started playing around in it. Over time I fell in love with the program and I'm now an Adobe user for life. My learning on Photoshop didn't technically cost Adobe anything, however, it taught me how to use and appreciate their products.
Once I began working in the industry, and photoshop became a business model and not a recreational activity, the companies I worked for purchased copies of the Adobe Suites with complete site licenses. They would even purchase the upgrades every time Adobe changed the software. So in the end, adobe was making money. The thing is, without the skills I'd learned from my pirated copy of Photoshop 4, I wouldn't have the ability to get the job in the first place.
The barrier of entry to being a photoshop purchaser is far too high. The fact of the matter is that Adobe needs to get copies of their software into the hands of youth so that they can grow up learning on the software. Only then will they be skilled enough to get the jobs that keep Adobe's pockets filled. From what I've heard, Adobe Creative Suite 3 is the currently their most protected and hardest to crack releases in the companies history. While they likely view this as an accomplishment, I view it as helping the competition by driving potential new customers to cheaper alternatives. I'm more willing to use a $50 program that just gets the job done, than a $1000 program that does far more than I need.
posted by Christopher Schnese