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Please let me plug two products for a moment. The first is MailOne (descended from DEC's MailWORKS). Except for the Calendar/Groupware functions, it also supports Exchange/Outlook clients (including address book) as well as POP and IMAP (plus a command line and Motif client). Runs on Linux, AIX and Tru64.

The second is Direct21, an email migration tool. If you are trying to get off of OpenMail (or on, I think) this tool will do that quickly and easily.

Both can be found through the website.

[Why] doesn't Ximian do something a little more needed, like make a replacement for M$ Exchange?

Nothing could help bring Linux to the backend for corporations more so than this... OpenMail and Mailone are costly, and OpenMail is also now dead. This is a needed project!

Get out! That just can't be! 462-mm2? 462-mm2??

Just imagine a card with two of these. It'd be...carry the one....924-mm4!
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MailOne

I have worked in places where I thought I was being dismissed merely because of my age. And some of those times I probably was. But looking back, I can see that some of those times I definitely wasn't.

This is clearest now that I'm older (I'm 27). A coworker's teenager or just-out-of-school applicant will come out and say something so totally ridiculous that I almost can't help but laugh. From their expressions it's clear they think I'm dismissing them "just because they are young". But the reality is that they really don't understand and that real understanding will only come with time.

It may be that you are a coding (or admin-ing, or whatever) god. That doesn't mean you understand The Issues: user psychology, social norms, political balances, etc. Here's a perfect example:

From time to time, an email virus erupts on the Internet. Post after post says "if only everybody would turn off feature X". These people have an "immature understanding". It's just a simple fact that you can't get "everybody" to do ANYTHING. You can explain this to an immature (of whatever age, but often pre-20's) person but they will just stare at you blankly and then go on to explain why it would work "if only" everyone would...

If literally no one will listen to you, you should at least consider the possibility that it's because what you are saying isn't worth listening to. If, upon sincere and mature reflection, you still think your idea has merit, ask someone why they are rejecting it. And don't dismiss their answer just because they are old.
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MailOne

Call me Ishmael, but I'm still confused: Is there or is there not an actual connection between Korn the shell and Korn (with a backwards "r") the band?
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MailOne

"...I'll continue to be loud and proud for as long as neccesary."

Considering I've been reading your comments for well over a year (maybe more like two) AND I didn't know you were gay--you can't have been all that "loud and proud".
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MailOne

...think "flea circus"
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MailOne

"Here's a cleaned-up edit of what's been bouncing around your inboxes all day..."

Turn off your javascript! I don't want you reading what's bouncing around MY inbox!
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MailOne

I can't believe no one has mentioned this hokey 70's invention! I never played it myself so I don't know the "rules" (if such exist), but I've seen the box plenty of times at Goodwill and the like. The cover says something like "The non-competitive game that everyone can enjoy!"
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MailOne

First, I was wrong about the standard keyboard. She only used Dvorak.

Second is this quote: "In 1938...Blackburn first laid hands on a Dvorak keyboard. In only a few years her speed was up to 138 words per minute."

In 1938 this keyboard was clearly mechanical, thus 138 is a mechanical speed. From context it sounds like she never switched to electric so 150/170 are also mechanical speeds.

As for your claim: "A good mechanical typrwriter is a match for a good keyboard."

Have you ever even used a mechanical typewriter? FULLY mechanical? As in it doesn't plug into the wall at all? You are probably thinking of "mechanical" electric keyboards (i.e. dedicated typewriters not attached to a computer, but nonetheless electrically powered). REAL mechanical typewriters are VERY hard to type with.

An electric only requires you to close a relay and then the machine does the work of striking the paper. A mechanical requires you to impart enough force to strike the arm against the paper (a distance of several inches) AND lift the ribbon (and if you are shifting, you have to lift the weight of the carriage with your other pinky). The difference is incredible. I remember as a child trying to learn to type with my mother's mechanical typewriter. I had to quit because I couldn't press the keys hard enough. When I played with an electric in the store I was astounded at the tiny amount of force I needed to use to make the keys go. Also keep in mind that a mechanical requires you to wait for the arms to move out of the way (can also be a problem on the electric, but the distance is smaller) but a computer keyboard has no problem with that.

Conclusion: You made a foolish initial statement that you can no longer sustain.
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MailOne

"Well to be fair, if people make errors there should be a penalty."

You obviously have no clue what you are talking about. Errors ARE subtracted from wpm rates.
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MailOne

1) No, she was using Dvorak only at the 170 speed. The 150 was a standard keyboard. At least, that's how I read your quote.

2) The previous poster said this was a MECHANICAL typewriter. Electronic is MUCH MUCH faster.
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MailOne

And *I* will say *this* again: I know for an absolute, 100% fact that the world champion typist in the late 80's was at or near 200 words per minute.

200 cpm is pretty lame. Given an average 5 chars/word, that's only 40 wpm. Check the classifieds for typists/secretaries. Note the speeds being asked for. Minimum 40, usually 50, often 60 words per minute.

Instead of coming back with responses like "I just don't see..." or "I can't possibly believe..." why not go find a link that lists fast typing speeds as either wpm or cpm?
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MailOne

Just because you can't imagine it, doesn't make it false.

I have an electronic keyboard that plays a certain piece of music at 220 beats/minute. That's 220/60 = 3.6 beats/second. Since all of the notes in the music are quarter (or shorter) that's 12-16 notes/second. I've seen this piece performed by an actual human at roughly the same speed my keyboard plays it. Amazing, yes. Impossible, clearly not.

Piano and typing use a lot of the same hand movements--in fact, typing is EASIER since the keys are closer together AND don't require much force to press down.
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MailOne

"Typing CTRL-B is surely quicker than saying "bold on" surely?

But you have to take you hands off the home row to do this. Sure, it's a lot faster for the hunt-n-peck type. But for people who type relatively quickly AND work with several keyboards with different layouts, stopping to find ctrl and then hit "b" takes WAY too long. At least, compared to just saying with no pause in my typing.
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MailOne

I've known people with 100+ wpm skills. Isaac Asimov claimed to type faster than he could talk and said this was about 100 wpm. And when I took typing in HS (for which I got a D, btw) our teacher (who was more excited about typing then I am about sex) went on and on about some championship she attended where the winner achieved 200+ wpm.
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MailOne

Voice *recognition* would be great for replacing the mouse as a selector tool. A lot of people only use the mouse to select menu items or highlight windows to accept input. It sure would be nice to not have to take my hands off the keyboard to do some of these things.

*type type type*
Bold on
*type type type*
Mail window
*check mail*
Read....Reply
*type type type*
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MailOne

"...you shouldn't have any problem with a partner reviewing it as you write it."

I have no problem with someone viewing my code. But as I write it? Over my literal shoulder? It's hard enough to think with phones ringing, loud conversations outside my cube and tech support questions every 10 minutes--I don't also need someone sitting behind me humming and clipping his nails.

You guys are all on a hair-trigger with the anti-machoism. I wasn't saying I didn't want anyone to see my code--I was saying I don't need company in an already small cubicle.
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MailOne

"...if I had to resubscribe every time I use a new client."

You have to type your password into the new client--maybe we should store that on the server too?

"What if there was no last session for the client?"

Then everything is RECENT. I realize this loses you a feature, namely that you can't see only those messages in client B that you didn't see in client A. But you don't have that feature now. Why not? Because there is a race condition in the spec: if a message comes in AFTER the last time you check your mail (in client A) but BEFORE you logout (with client A) that message won't be RECENT in client B.
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MailOne

http://slashdot.org/articles/00/10/12/1820241_F.sh tml
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MailOne

Didn't we already hear about this?
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MailOne

...until I started implementing.

Example: Why does ENVELOPE exist? It just lists header fields that could be obtained from BODY[HEADER]. All it really does is provide them in a different format--is that a job the server should be doing?

Example: Why are subscriptions stored on the server? That is client data. What if different clients (of the same user) want to subscribe to different folders? What if IMAP is being used as a front end to an existing mail system that can't have mods made to it?

Example: Why does the RECENT flag exist? First of all, it's client data. Second of all, if it didn't exist at all the client is perfectly able to calculate RECENTness just be storing the UIDs from the last session.

And these are the larger issues. It's a huge mish-mash of bizarreness--it's no wonder it's made almost no inroads against POP3, whatever the user-side usefulness (and I have to admit IMAP should be nicer than POP3).
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MailOne

As someone who is, as we speak, supposed to be implementing an IMAP server, let me say this: If the person who dreamed up RFC2060 says that X is "slow and dangerous" run, DO NOT WALK, to leap onto the X bandwagon--it'll be the wave of the future.
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MailOne

"(Since we know testing is good, we'll test everything and even write our tests first. Since we know short development cycles are good, we'll have a new cycle every three weeks. Since we know that communication is good, we'll put everyone in the same room.)"

And since we all know vitamin B is good, we'll take megadoses. Oops, megadoses of B are poisonous, we are now dead. More is not always better.

"Maybe when you grow up a bit you'll understand something about working with other people."

"Working with" other people is no problem. Enduring every little typo and thinko (not to mention spending hours at a time with a random coworker) is a totally different beast.
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MailOne

Red Hat And Eazel To Parntner

RedHat development of a spell-checker: $2000 Eazel development of a spell-checker UI: $1500 A user that actuall checks the spelling of his words: priceless
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MailOne

It's a magazine and a website. It's mostly about how to setup your own renewable (largely solar, some wind, a little "other") energy generation. But they've also got some tips/tools for reducing usage.
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MailOne

Hey, she's a hottie! ...or is that a man?

Don't tell amihotornot.com about this technology...
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MailOne

I'm learning to play piano (although with an electronic keyboard) but I want to learn classical music, not modern stuff. I've found a couple of sites that have downloadable scores, but not much. This site will be invaluable.

On the downside, why is everything an FTP link? I'd really like to click on a MIDI or PNG link and have it just play/show--as it is I have to download the MIDI or score and view it "manually".

Also, can anyone answer me this: I download lilypond a few weeks ago (along with a million other required packages). Finally got it all installed and lilypond just crashes. Boom, it dies. Is there a mailing list or FAQ or something?
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MailOne

"Are other users experiencing this?"

Yes. Every few weeks I'll have a little downtime. Yesterday was the worst in several months, though.

"Think Taco should do a front page post everytime /. goes down for equal treatment."

He used to. Back when he still cared about readers (and when he was a reader himself). Now Slashdot is just a "revenue stream" or "eyeball attractor" or whatever the current catch-phrase is.
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MailOne

Luckily Taco only made fun of Microsoft's pages and products and not the fact that their DNS was down. Because I was unable to get to /. from about 2:00 on yesterday afternoon--no DNS entries.
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MailOne

What about porn that depicts a (fictional) rape? Should that be illegal because it'll "whet the appetite" of a rapist?

What about a movie that depicts graphic dismemberment of a corpse? It might "whet the appetite" of a serial killer. Silence of the Lambs

What about a movie that depicts a not at all graphic simple domestic homicide? It might "whet the appetite" of a spouse abuser.Almost any TV show

What about a BOOK, for crying out loud, that depicts any of these things (including fictional sex acts involving fictional children)? Lolita

These are all perfectly legal. I just don't see that the "simulated child porn is wrong" case has a leg to stand on. Therefore it'll probably pass unanimously...
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MailOne

I, like you, generally assumed that The Man was putting The First on Low Power Radio, until something happened. I heard a story about it on NPR.

First of all, there are several low power stations coming into existence (I think they said 500 licenses were granted).

Second, NPR itself also opposed the granting of low power licenses. They didn't say exactly why, although a broad statement about all opposition was given as being about "technical issues".

Granted, NPR has advertisers--but I trust their integrity a LOT more than commercial stations.
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MailOne

You are exactly right about the multiple datasource problems and lack of scheduling. I never tried to use Oracle funcs (although I was about to before I quit that job) so I can't speak to that. Never used the web server or the multiple versions either.

We even resorted to creating our own scheduler in VB using the CR VBX/OCX. Pretty ugly, but we eventually did it.
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MailOne

...who think that at least one paragraph was left out of this story? I have literally NO idea what he is talking about. I see a bunch of references to "Open Projects" and I see some answers that reference website software. Other than that, I have zero clue. If this were K5, I'd vote "-1 Dump it" with an editorial saying "rewrite to make clearer".
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MailOne

First of all, you should be able to set Access to "pass-through" so it doesn't care about your query syntax at all. (warning: it's been over a year since I did any report writing, used Access or wrote any SQL).

Second of all, why use "if()"? Create a defined field on the DB OR Access end and do the work there.
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MailOne

Please consider suicide rather than subjecting yourself to the utter trash that is CR. I swear to God, it is the WORST software of ANY kind I have EVER used.

Part of problem was that it kept crashing on us (literally at least once an hour on 4 different machines, often as much as once every 10 minutes). I can't entirely blame CR for this, part of it was the ODBC drivers. But still.

The rest of the problem is the lameness of the software itself. User-defined fields are FAR weaker than they are in Access. The formatting was nearly impossible to get right (or keep right). The UI is nice in some spots but just plain weird in others (why aren't fields listed in some kind of ORDER??).

At least promise me this: Try an evaluation version of the software before buying it. And when you do a sample report, make it act and work EXACTLY like you will when you "go live". With Crystal, making a "quick and dirty" report is pretty easy. Making a known accurate and correctly-formatted report is a nightmare.

CR is probably just barely usable for a small company, provide you put ALL of your user-defined/calculated fields in the DB itself.
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MailOne

The Company sent me on a business trip, but I couldn't see the point of it. My instructions were to have a picnic, then go to the theater. The picnic was on this grassy knoll and I found a rifle in the picnic basket! Later, in the theater there was a bunch of ruckus in the basement and I saw some of my coworkers--they didn't say "hi" though. Nowadays, especially in the commie areas of the country, people will tell you to just "jump ship". But this was Texas in 1963--I stayed loyal to The Company. You should, too.
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MailOne

"And yet, I have two upcoming job offers that are both well paying and good career moves, and offers don't last forever."

Why do you have offers coming in? Did you put your resume out? Surely you must have at least interviewed with them.

I suspect you've already made the decision to leave and want us to provide some conscience-salving justifications for it.
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MailOne

Many many MANY people talked about this on your very own website. Why not just read the posts?

Here's the upshot for the lazy: The Post Office used to be required to deliver anything with an address (and conforming to some size/weight/safety restrictions). But in the case of junkmail/magazine-tearouts affixed to bricks and so forth, postal workers generally toss the item in the trash, "According to rule 917.243(b) in the Domestic Mail Manual". Source

Anyway, I still suggest you go through and read the posts yourself, there are a few good links in there (like the Improbable Research item about sending odd items through the mail)
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MailOne

I also note that having a high rating does NOT automatically admit one into the (supposedly) sacred realm of Moderator-hood. My Karma hasn't dipped below 47 in at least 6 months, but I've never been a moderator (with this account).

I was on a two month hiatus (internet access down while company moved, then idiot provider couldn't hook us back up) and during that I time I notice that meta-moderation has apparently gone away, too.

And while we're on the topic: Karma Kaps are just wrong. The ONLY incentive I used to have (as FascDot) was an ever growing (IIRC I was above 600) karma. Now that it's practically impossible to lose a +2 bonus and it's long been actually impossible to rise above the noise around here, I've found myself at Kuro5hin more and more (despite the stupid name and incomprehensible "sections" layout).
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MailOne

Who on earth came up with the brain-dead design of the shuttle? ANY competent engineer will tell you that designing for two *largely incompatible* goals is a recipe for disaster. The shuttle is designed to launch vertically, be a spaceship and then land like a plane. Why why why? Reusable is fine, but why land like a plane? Why not just drop into the ocean, retrieve and reuse? Idiots.
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MailOne

"...cancer, diabetes, arthritis and heart disease."

Diabetes isn't related to the immune system, is it? For that matter, neither is arthritis or hear "disease".

The immune system deals with foreign matter in the body. Diabetes is just malfunctioning insulin (either missing or ineffective). Arthritis is a simple mechanical problem of the joints (although maybe the mechanical problem is caused by something the immune system is related to--or even by the immune system itself). And heart "disease" is just junk building up in the arteries and such, isn't it?
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MailOne

I would say that an eye for an eye is simply an enforced version of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And trusteth me, they will if you do.

And of course the Golden Rule is also reflected in Kant's Categorical Imperitive. When deciding if something is ethical, ask yourself "what if everybody did it?"

And another reflection: Axelrod's work on the Prisoner's Dilemma. Someone who knows the phrase "Lex Talionis" has probably heard about this, so I'll leave you with this unexplained remark: Tit for Tat won.

Philosophers and scientists agree, an eye for an eye is OK and workable. Get into the 21st Century, man.
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MailOne

That was a great site! The scientific language kills me. They neglected a fruitful area of inquiry though: malformed addresses on otherwise normal items of mail. Heinlein commented in one of his books about receiving an (international!) piece of mail addressed to "Robert Heinlein, The United States". That was the sole address and (obviously) it got to him.
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MailOne

Empty? No, tape them to hunks of steel or large bricks. Then you cost them a couple of bucks instead of a measly $.30. Apparently some (all?) postmasters will refuse to deliver these, but I suspect that isn't strictly legal. Anyway, it puts pressure on the PO to get things changed as well.
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MailOne

"It may, however, be the first film in history to prominently feature the GNOME desktop."

Edison's first film back in the early 1900's/late 1800's was "Fred Ott's Sneeze" which featured a several second clip of a man sneezing. Everyone already knows this. What I thought everyone ALSO knew was that Edison's second film was "Fred Ott's Linux Desktop Session Manager" featuring...you guessed it, GNOME. Sure this was back before 1.0, but all the major features were there. Fred even demonstrates an early version of Mozilla (although it core dumps when he tries to load the Java on Standard Oil's website).
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MailOne

Wasn't Einstein's Nobel for his work on Brownian motion?
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MailOne

C is a constant defined as "the speed of light in a vacuum". You can't just take any light you happen to have lying around (in gas chambers or underwater or wherever). Light slows down going through ANY substance.
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MailOne

This reminds me of the "slow glass" stories. For the uninitiated: Slow glass is just like regular glass but the thicker it is, the longer it takes for light to pass through. So for a 1 inch thick piece it may take, say, 20 years. They put the glass out in the forest for 20 years, then install it in a house. Now the inhabitants have a 20 year forest scene streaming in the window. Other stories put the glass to other uses.

Anyway, my REAL point: what about heisenberg's uncertainty principle? As the photon slows shouldn't it's position become more and more indeterminable? And when it stops, how do they know where it is?
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MailOne