WARNING! WALL OF TEXT TO FOLLOW!!! Imagine if schools started a new requirement for specific equipment to be used by students for a specific task; For the sake of this argument, we'll say the task is writing. Any time a student wants to write anything down, it has to be on a specific paper and using a specific pen. It's really cool, though, because your writing is unreadable on the paper, unless you lay a special coloured film over the page. Now, this paper, this pen, and this plastic (hereafter referred to as P3) are only manufactured by one company, who has graciously decided to offer them at a deeply discounted price to schools, however, students who wish to purchase the P3 system must pay full price, which is upwards of $100 for enough paper to last them until the next version of P3 comes out, which brings us to the upgrade cycle on P3. Every 2 or 3 years, a new version of P3 comes out. They change the styling of the pen up a bit (one year, they added a "comfort grip" which many found cumbersome and awkward but learned to live with), tweak the colour of the paper, and change the colour of the plastic to work optimally with the paper. The changes are such that you can't really read anything written on the new paper using the old plastic, so, if someone gives you a document written on the new paper, you have to buy a new P3 system to be able to read it without at least using another sheet in a different colour to adjust for the difference; it works...okay, but it's kind of hard to use. Ridiculous, right? Now, here comes the interesting bit; There are several manufacturers who make similar systems. Some are even GIVING THEM AWAY FOR FREE! The differences are minimal. The colour of the plastic that comes with some of them is even able to allow you to read stuff written on the genuine P3 system! At least, it was until the P3 manufactures decided to add an arbitrary colour stripe to their plastic and paper just to be contrary to a large group of manufacturers who all got together and decided the best thing to do was for everyone to manufacture their systems such that they were all compatible with each other, relying on other factors to differentiate themselves, such as pen features (some have an eraser, some are clicky, etc.). The real kicker is, the added colour stripe, now makes it extremely difficult to modify the older plastic from last year's P3 system so that you can use it to read this year's. Why are schools implementing this? Well, it's simple: The colleges all require you to use the genuine P3 system. Why do the colleges require students to use the P3 system? Simple, because 99.9% of businesses require employees to use the P3 system. Why do businesses require the use of the P3 system? Good question. Despite the increased cost, the hassle of upgrading, and the insistence of being non-standards compliant, business continue to buy into the P3 system because it more or less works, and it's the only system most of their employees have ever used. This scenario would be entirely laughable if it weren't really happening today. This is (to the best of my ability) an attempt to illustrate exactly what is happening with office software today. While I may have missed some of the finer nuances, or possibly overstated something here or there, I think it's a fairly accurate picture of the state of things. Our education system is broken. Our corporate system is broken. How do we fix this?
The reason is commonality. Reminds me of a story... "They are one people and have one language, and nothing will be withheld from them which they purpose to do." -Microsoft "Come, let us go down and confound their speech." -Apple, Firefox, Linux (The quotes -Genesis 11 and about chapter 3 of all Operations Mgmt Textbooks)
Thank you so much, Every Buddy, for your kind words about silly Willie. I'm so fortunate to be part of this wonderful community. Despite her injuries, she was the funniest creature I've had the pleasure of meeting. I miss her horribly & really regret some medical decisions, but I feel so blessed to have had her. There's a cheesy country breakup song that kinda fits how I feel today... If I'd've known the way that this would end If I'd've read the last page first... I would've loved you anyway I'd do it all the same Not a second I would change... Had I known my heart would break I'd've loved you anyway adoption week Saturday
Line them up out back and shoot them all? :bang: I wouldn't beat yourself up, because I'm sure that feeling was mutual.
GOT BACK INTO PHOTOGRAPHY!! WAHOO!!! (Thank you school for being over forever! I have a life again!) I took this one today. (Image Link NOT working...Click HERE)
Nice! I noticed someone added me. Here's the other one I took yesterday; it is SUPER scaled down as the original is about 3300x5000 in size O_o. Just for some info, I use a Nikon D5100 with the kit lense (55-80), I shoot in full manual mode and always over expose my pictures a bit for better color. This photo is not cropped at all and I added a bit of softness to it (and obviously the fx) via Lightroom 5...which IMO is WAY better than 4. This flower is from a hanging basket my wife got for Mother's Day and is about 1 inch wide (at the petals) at the largest sopt. Enjoy
That's a nice setup and beautiful work. I'm still using a D40 (pre 'x'), which I really enjoy because I can use old glass on it. I've got a 200mm prime that I use alot of the time, the only draw back is that you loose autofocus and metering... largely unused features for me anyway. As for software, my motto is "go Gimp or go home!" No, but seriously, I do use the gimp almost exclusively for photo editing. I'm just comfortable with it, and with the addition of the G'Mic plugin, it's an amazing tool.
I think my wife uses Gimp for her editing...but she pretty much uses a compact point and shoot. Right now I am looking at old lenses on the Bay, I'm in the market for a telephoto (200-300). I am hoping to do some moon shots, and so since I work primarily manual (only autofocus on because I can change the focal point) I don't really care if the lense is super old and works only with manual adjustments. I just looked up the D40, looks like a great camera! My D5100 replaced my old F65, and though it doesn't have the motor built into the body, it has the same image sensor as the D7000. But honestly speaking, I CANNOT comprehend how a DSLR can mimic a film SLR ISO wise...the other stuff, yeah, because that's the lens...but needless to say the technology blows me away and I don't even try to comprehend it!
Takes after his dad apparently. Rich, problem there is what if the exchange rate goes dips below 1.00 again? It's done that a couple times now since Nickleback's been around.
Aw, no man! Life's too short to spare thoughts & the little gray cells on Nickelback. Hopefully the kiddo won't make you watch Spongebob & Dora DVDs. Stay strong, man! May the afternoon passed quickly!
