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Domain: nit.ca

Stories and comments across the archive that link to nit.ca.

Comments · 6

  1. Re:I'm trying to migrate, but ... by petrus4 · · Score: 1 · on Why the World Is Not Ready For Linux
    a) Dump Red Hat, and anything rpm based.

    b) Realise that you *are* unavoidably going to be subjected to a learning curve. There is no way around it, and if you try to avoid it by seeking an "easy" solution, (usually rpm based) later on it will end up turning out to be anything but. Another thing that needs to be accepted is that UNIX is not Windows. The two systems are fundamentally very different. You'll get the most out of it (Linux or the BSDs in this case) if you let UNIX *be* UNIX, rather than trying to insist that it be a Windows clone.

    c) Realise that a dual boot scenario is the most realistic scenario. There are certain things which, as you've no doubt realised, can be done more easily with Windows. Gaming, CD burning/ripping and scanner use in particular are things you're going to want to keep Windows 2000 around for. There also isn't anything wrong with this, either. Ignore the GNU/FSF trolls on the one extreme, and the Windows zealots on the other. UNIX' and Windows' strengths are at opposite ends of the spectrum, for the most part...and they can complement each other extremely well if you can identify what each of them is good for, and don't try and demand that either of them do what they're not suited to.

    Windows' strengths are:-
    • Games
    • Multimedia/Graphics/Audiovisual content in general
    • Diverse hardware support
    • Superficial user friendliness. You can be competent in Windows more or less straight away, but if you want to go beyond the basics, you'll have to invest as much time with it as anything else.

    UNIX's strengths are:-
    • Anything related to software development/automation/programming (It was originally intended as a programmer's system)
    • Security. (It makes sense that an OS developed within a phone company would also be based around networking more or less from the ground up)
    • Robustness. (There has traditionally been a tradeoff between robustness and user friendliness, at least in Windows' sense of the term...when one goes up, the other tends to go down. RPM is the abomination that it is primarily due to its' degree of complexity; this I suspect is also why I've been hearing about Ubuntu having more problems recently)
    • Portability. (Per The UNIX Hater's Handbook, there were other early operating systems around at the time that were considered more desirable in other respects. However, UNIX was originally developed on a machine not much more powerful than a Commodore 64. Linux's ability to run on older hardware is due to it having inherited this necessary conservatism of design)
    • Transparency. As intimidating as you might find a command line interface initially, once you learn your way around, you'll find it incomparably faster and more accessible, especially for operations involving large numbers of files/actions. GNOME's abominable GConf is also the only equivalent I know of to Windows' registry.
    • Versatility. Given that UNIX was originally designed to be Windows' polar opposite in a number of ways, the fact that Linux has been able to mimic Windows as closely as it has is a testament to this characteristic. True, the hardware and multimedia support in particular aren't there yet...but give it time.

      d) Get Slackware, and ignore the trolls who respond to this and say that I'm wrong for recommending Slack. If you want package management, get FreeBSD...ports is the only sane form of package management that I can recommend in good conscience. Ignore the Debian trolls who will potentially object to that as well.

      e) For dialup ppp, you can use WvDial.

      Insane software installs.

      Ports will go a long way towards solving this problem, although admittedly you can still have sticky situations. As far as an IM client goes, you also could have got Gaim, which doesn't need Qt AFAIK...although it does have its' own deps.

      In terms of documents which use fonts...which application are we talking about?
  2. We have this where I work by Peter+McC · · Score: 2, Interesting · on Independent Developer Projects in the Workplace?

    We have a so-called "non-directional" day where I work. It's pretty nice; every Wednesday you're supposed to work on some sort of side project. There's a few around you can join, or start your own. The caveat, of course, is that the company owns any outcome from this, but that's fair since it's their time. Of course, if you contribute to a GPL licensed product, then the company is the proud owner of the copyright to a GPL'ed patch, so you can do that if you want. It's also possible to get approval to start a new GPLed project, and people do have independant (non-GPL) projects that they work on in their "real" spare time that the company doesn't have any sort of claim to.

    You do have to get the project approved, but that's only to prevent you from starting a "let's blow up the company" type of project. The only one that was ever been turned down was one that would directly compete with us.

    The main problem has actually been getting people motivated to start a project, and then keeping them working on it (especially in the face of real deadlines). A few have turned out to be surprisingly interesting, but we haven't had any notable successes like Google has, at least not just yet. There have been a few sizable improvements to internal projects that came from this though. A key factor was moving the day from Friday to Wednesday; when it was on Friday there was just about no motivation to get started on these things.

    If you can convince your management to approve this, it's nice and rewarding.

  3. What if? It's existed for years! by JoeNotCharles · · Score: 1 · on Where Is The Plug-and-Play Linux Office System?
    Plug-and-play Linux for small businesses? That would be Nitix, which has been around since 1997, although it was only bundled with the "Net Integrator" server hardware and so didn't get its own name until last year. (Or maybe it was the year before, I can't recall.)

    Version 4.0 got released not long ago (no version inflation here, we actually used point releases - gasp!) Upgrades are offered through authenticated download, and have to be manually triggered, so you don't need to worry about incompatibilities showing up unexpectedly, but a big notice shows up on your server status page when a new release is available. Patch releases are made to older lines to fix security holes (similar to the Debian security branch) in case you don't want to upgrade for fear of breakage.

    Oh, hey, and it even works as a "franchise opportunity", since the small-business sales are done through VARs. Sounds like in 1998, Roblimo had the exact same idea the NITI founders had in 1997, except they went on to actually do it.

    The links I listed above are the corporate pages written by marketing - Slashdot geeks will be more interested in the Wiki.

    (Disclaimer: I am a former employee.)

  4. Re:One thing that is needed. by McAlister · · Score: 3, Interesting · on Advocates Join to Promote Desktop Linux

    Well, You'll see one coming shortly from Net Integration Technologies - we're currently in Beta for a product that allows Outlook, Webmail and Evolution to all talk to each other, exchange Calendaring information (including delegating user rights, etc.), assign Todo's, integrate contact lists, and pretty much all of the other commonly used features of Exchange.

    (We're the same people who brought you WvDial, and a bunch of other stuff - check out open.nit.ca for more of the projects that we have done.

  5. Net Integrator by Pierre+Phaneuf · · Score: 1 · on Preconfigured Linux Servers for Sale?

    Looks like you need a Net Integrator. It does all of what you ask for, has a cool backup system, RAID support, and is winning all of the awards in magazine reviews (yes, kicking the ass of Cobalts soundly). For example, PC Magazine got pretty happy about the NI.

    Disclaimer: I do work for Net Integration Technologies, check out our web site for more info. It's a pretty cool place to work at, with bright people and supportive of open source software.

    Yeah, we're the guys behind the famous WvDial program.

  6. Net Integrator by Pierre+Phaneuf · · Score: 1 · on Preconfigured Linux Servers for Sale?

    Looks like you need a Net Integrator. It does all of what you ask for, has a cool backup system, RAID support, and is winning all of the awards in magazine reviews (yes, kicking the ass of Cobalts soundly). For example, PC Magazine got pretty happy about the NI.

    Disclaimer: I do work for Net Integration Technologies, check out our web site for more info. It's a pretty cool place to work at, with bright people and supportive of open source software.

    Yeah, we're the guys behind the famous WvDial program.