Quote: "Sorry, the "nope" was specifically from me."
Ok cool
Quote: "You specifically mention you're not familiar with Linux (or at least its ecosystem), but you have lots of experience? I'm confused."
Yeah... I kinda contradicted myself... What I meant was I have little experience outside Lubuntu, but a fair amount within it.
Quote: "Those Windows 7 customizations are a bit hidden to be called accessible. Especially the GUID one."
Those were not meant to be customisations, they were just cool things. Wait, no, the taskbar-toolbar thing is a customisation and is definitely accessible. It's just that few people know about it.
The problem with Windows vs Linux is that Linux users are a niche. They tend to be far more experienced than your average Windows user simply because EVERYONE users Windows... which includes all the useless computer-noobs that can only send email. This means that when a Linux user asks another Linux user a question, he generally gets an educated answer. It also means most Linux users tend to know more about their OS, so even less obvious features are known about by most people. The opposite is true of Windows. Comparatively few Windows users know about all their available features, so less obvious but easily accessible features such as the quick-launch bar get forgotten.
Incidentally the GodMode shortcut is a hack. M$ never intended for it to be used that way, which is why it's not even slightly obvious.
EDIT: On the subject of Windows, one of the greatest advantages of it over any other OS is the enormous backwards compatibility! Sure, it may require some tweaks, but there's usually no reason you can't get software that ran on Windows 95 to run on Windows 7! Maybe 95 is an exageration (although I now intend to go find some Win95 software and test it!), but Windows XP, definitely. I mean, that's software from 2001.
Also, many people say it's a bad thing that Windows hasn't changed since Windows 95 (Windows 7 is very much Windows 95 with a coat of paint, they say - obviously there's big kernel changes but you get the point), but I actually think it's one of the biggest pros there is with Windows, and it's also one of the reasons Windows 8 was hated so much. Windows isn't just "an OS", it's "an OS with a Start button and taskbar and it functions a particular way", and people (me included) hated it when M$ tried to change that. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Quote: "Indeed, here in America, gear positions are the same."
Cool
Quote: "And yes, the UK Top Gear is epic. I have in fact been watching tons of that the past week or so. The American version is sad."
As is the Australian version
Quote: "Oh! I have one: the signal lights lever, is that on the left side of the steering column for you? It is on the left side here in the United States, and the windshield wiper control is generally on the right side."
For Australian-made cars the indicator stalk (we don't call it a "signal lights lever") is always on the right and the windscreen wiper stalk on the left, but we do import a rather large number of European cars (Audi, Peugeot, VW, Saab, etc. are all makes we frequently buy in Australia) and they have the indicator on the left. Our Land Rover has it on the left as well for some weird reason
Quote: "In some older cars with an auto transmission, we have a transmission mode selector on the right side of the steering column instead of a windshield wiper control."
We tend not to run older American cars in Australia so much any more because fuel is considerably more expensive here and they do rather guzzle
This means we don't often see a column-shift gearboxes, but when we do they tend to be four-speed manual British cars, which are fairly confusing to drive if you've never used that sort of gearshift before
Question: What do you call the handbrake? We call it either a handbrake or a parkbrake.
Quote: "In the US it's a free-for-all and my experience is that it causes no end of problems and accidents. On one trip, the outer lane (which is the fastest lane in Europe) was blocked by a police car that had pulled somebody over - just stopped in the lane! There was no warning or attempt to filter the traffic into the other lanes."
Whaaat. Does that apply in most/all states?? Sounds horrible. In Australia it's illegal to overtake on the left-hand (inside) lane, and while it still happens, it only tends to happen in very slow-moving traffic and you will definitely be booked for it you're caught. It's also illegal to travel in the right-hand (outside) lane unless overtaking, except when the speed limit is (I think) less than 80 km/h.
Quote: "A red traffic light means the same to all traffic - stop. It doesn't mean you can still go if you're turning right. We have additional green arrow lights for this purpose, so it is clear when you can and can't filter through."
Are you telling me you can turn right at a red light in America?? Oh wait that's their equivalent of our left. In Australia, you can't normally turn left on a red light, but there are quite frequently small curvy left-turn lanes in cities that allow you to turn left at a traffic light, like my drawing here:
I don't believe we ever have green arrows for left turns, but we frequently do for intersections where there's lots of people wanting to turn right. We also have this sometimes (but fairly infrequently AFAIK):
Something else I've seen on the TV in other countries: a yellow light before a green light! It's so weird! In Australia, the only time you get a yellow (amber) light is just before a red light. Then you sit and wait, and the next light you get is green.
Some might argue that a yellow light just before a green light gives drivers time to prepare for takeoff (so to speak), but I've thought about this and it really makes no difference. In Australia, there's a sort of "standard" time it takes for everyone to get moving after a green light. You
could react faster, but at the normal speed of reaction, if you're waiting at a red light with someone next to you in the other lane, when the light goes green you'll both take off at the same time. There's no real safety advantage at all to yellow-before-green.
You could also argue that yellow-before-green could save time on commutes because you can time your takeoffs better. That's not a good argument either. If you're a commuter (and even if you're not!), you very quickly learn to judge when the lights are about to go green based on when the other traffic stops; you get a feel for when it's "your turn". Most people in cities can time the lights down to the second purely by watching the other traffic slow and stop.
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Watched Guardians of the Galaxy tonight. Didn't even know it existed, but it was a properly brilliant movie! Thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend to anyone who likes good sci-fi! It's also really funny, without making the comedy the main focus which was really good
You may cringe slightly at the CG when you first see it, as it's not the best we've ever seen, but you get used to it pretty quickly. That's not to say the CG is
bad, not by any means; if you're not a nerd about graphics than in all likelihood you won't even notice! It's just not as cutting-edge as some films, that's all - kinda 2010-level.
