I'm in a similar situation: My business runs FileMaker Pro, with FileMaker clients on Mac. I'd like to switch to something else (read: free, non Mac-dependent), but don't want to give up the efficient and easy-to-use front end. (Yes, I've tried FileMaker's Web interface, and it lacks far too much.) Any suggestions?
I'm running both Mac OS 9.1 and Red Hat 6.2 servers, with Mac OS 9.1 clients throughout. I'd actually consider making them all Yellow Dog Linux clients: FileMaker is pretty much the one essential application I can't give up, and I haven't seen any front ends nearly as flexible or easy to develop for. Thanks,
I agree, but would put it a different way: One considers overall *quality of life*, rather than just "social life", when considering a career.
In 1990, I spoke before the Cincinnati City Council about some gay-related issue: Business effects of quality of life were at the crux of my statement. I was then graduating from college, and trying to decide where I wanted to live. I loved Cincinnati for many reasons, but also learned to distrust the local law enforcement. (The long-time and still-current sheriff once allowed the male rapist of a lesbian to go free because, he said, "it was for her own good".)
We can trace Silicon Valley's boom to many factors, but the influence of the socially liberal San Francisco must be considered high among them. Not that a socially liberal society will always encourage business growth: But in a business that relies on the work of artists (such as software development), it's essential.
--Tom Geller
Funny you should ask this, because I'm on the other side of the equation: I'm a public relations flack looking for speaking engagements for executives at two client companies (Topica and one other I can't announce yet).
For small organizations (i.e., under 25 full-time staff people), you can probably contact the proposed speaker directly. You might have to go through a secretary: Be courteous and follow their rules. The speakers will probably make arrangements themselves.
Organizations of 25-75 people often have a dedicated Public Relations Manager to handle such things: Ask for them. They in turn might send you to a freelancer or small agency, who'll make the arrangements.
With companies of this size and bigger, they probably won't be interested unless:
You can deliver audience members who are in their target markets
You can deliver large, high-profile audiences ("opinion leaders"), and/or
The talk is convenient for them.
In short, you'll have a hard time getting someone to get on a plane to appear before your 20-member User's Group.:)
Finally, for bigger organizations (75+ full-time staff), you may have to deal with the organization's P.R. firm. Go to their Web site, look under the "About us" button, then to the "Press" section. If they don't list a press contact, look for contact names and numbers on press releases.
Don't be discouraged if they turn you down, and feel free to pester them if they don't return your emails and phone calls within a week. Good luck!
Anybody who pays $99.95 for these is -- excuse me -- a fucking moron.
I was at the Vintage Computer Fair last weekend, and the going rate is about ten bucks. Yes, with manuals and everything. My VIC-20 isn't even worth a quarter of that price, and that's including the original boxes, manuals, an expansion card, programs on tape, and a bunch of other cool original stuff.
By the way, the original price was... $99.95! (Oh, O.K.... they started out at $199.95, but were later lowered to $99.95. I last saw a new one in a store in New York City in the late 80s for $14.95.)
This link may be of interest to the ZX-curious.
--Tom
You could also sell them on security and reliability, areas in which IIS simply falls on its face. A look through old Slashdot stories will give you ammunition.
--Tom
Unfortunately, IBM never released the layout files ("Gerbers") because of problems with the northbridge. The project's pretty moribund these days, but who knows? Maybe IBM will revisit the idea of creating a reference design for the 405 chips (and similar), and we'll have inexpensive, third-party PPC-based motherboards yet.
First: It's a _galley_ copy, not a "gallery" copy. It's a pre-publication proof, sent to book reviewers and others in the trade so they can prepare reviews and marketing materials in advance of the book's shelf appearance.
Second, if you request a galley copy, it's considered quite unethical to sell it -- doubly so before the publication date. OTOH, if the seller received the copy unsolicited, I see no reason not to sell it.:)
Last year, IBM announced it was working on the Linux-centric "PowerPC Open Platform", or POP. (Read the IBM site about POP or the Slashdot article from August 1999.) In response, Ralph Giles and I started the OpenPPC Project to develop for and possibly build these boards. The project fizzled when IBM had problems with a custom part (the northbridge) and wouldn't release the layout files, since they couldn't guarantee their viability.
Now IBM's investing in Linux development, and I have to wonder: What role (if any) will the PowerPC processor have in all of this? Will Intel's involvement help drive a one-OS, one-processor world? I hope not, especially as Intel's processors leave a lot to be desired, especially in the area of power consumption.
I doubt that. You're probably confusing the MAPS RBL with ORBS. The MAPS RBL usually doesn't list open relays, unless the owner takes the attitude of, "We leave the relay open so people can spam thhrough it." They go to great lengths to contact spam-producing domains before listing, and makes an honest effort to get them to change their ways. It's REALLY HARD to get someone listed on the MAPS RBL: Merely reporting an open relay ain't enough. They require extensive documentation.
ORBS, on the other hand, actively probes networks and lists them without notification if they have an open relay.
First, my credentials: I started as a reviewer for ZDNet/Mac in 1994, writing about downloadable software before most people knew what it was. (I wrote for eWorld -- remember that? -- and Compuserve. Many of my reviews are now part of MacDownload.) I left ZDNet/Mac in 1995 and wrote freelance reviews and features until 1996, when I became a Reviews Editor for MacWEEK. I left in 1997, have been doing a mixture of writing and P.R. since then (including reviews for Productopia), and am currently running a reviews program for Globalstar.
You can see over 600 reviews of mine on my Web site.
Having said all that, back to the question: Are Linux reviews fixed? The answer: It depends on the integrity of the individual journalist and publication. For the most part, very few reviews are fixed in the sense that there's pay for a positive evaluation.
When it does happen, it's usually for one of two reasons. The most common reason is that the media outlet is actually an advertising vehicle, and this fact is given up front. One example is "Bunting's Window", the high-tech products show that appears on most in-flight video programs in the U.S. If you look carefully, there's a statement in there about how "promotional consideration" has been paid by companies whose products appear in the show. That promotional consideration is typically in the 5-6 figures. The producers know that most viewers don't know what "promotional consideration" means -- but hey, at least they said it.
The second way that reviews are "fixed" is in media outlets that are less open about their pay-for-play policies. That's considered unethical almost universally in the U.S., but not overseas: For example, the (now-defunct?) Japanese print version of MacWEEK ran positive reviews face-to-face with a full-page ad for the product reviewed. In the U.S., it's often smaller and more cash-strapped publications that tie advertising and gifts to reviews results. These publications deserve their (generally low) reputations.
O.K., so there's little out-and-out fixing. However, reviews often skim over negative points. Again, there are two common justifications. The first reason -- and one that affects "community" publications, such as those in the Mac and Linux worlds -- is that readers really *want* to hear good things about their community, rather than serious evaluations. That's understandable, but not (IMHO) good: Saplings may need protection, but they also need a chance to grow into storm-weathered oaks.
The more pernicious sort of "fix" is when journalists abandon their evaluative senses because of peer pressure. We all know the big example: Microsoft Windows. [Insert here description of bugs and security holes ignored by the media.] Why do they do this? Because... well, because they're human. They may have friends at the company, or have personal (non-financial) reasons for wanting the product to succeed, or whatever -- the fact is, it happens.
However, *almost never* do journalists give good reviews for financial reasons, or for gifts, or for fear that the company will "dry up" if they slam the product. If it's valuable for a company to have its products appear in a publication, they'll be back with the next version, no matter how bad past reviews have been. And if it's not valuable to have reviews in that publication... well, then, why would companies bother with it in the first place?
Even if there is a theoretical limit on radio frequencies available, there are other telecom carrier methods.
For example: Fiberless optics (via a system of relayed lasers) and satellites (a la Globalstar). These technologies certainly aren't as well-developed as 100-year-old radio, but they're showing a lot of promise.
Full disclosure: I do P.R. for Globalstar. (Not that it's relevant to this post...)
POP is IBM's PPC-based reference platform, which will (we hope!) allow OEMs to build inexpensive and clever PPC-based applications. Design files for the first version of POP never came out due to a bad part (the Northbridge, from Winbond); according to Brad, a "POP2" is on its way.
Antispam laws vary greatly in quality in the 16 states that have them, but they almost all agree on one thing: Forging a domain name is against the law. And since the spammer is in California, I'd guess that Penal Code 502 could send him to jail for a year. (Note: I'm not a lawyer, and am only making a layman's guess. Consult a real lawyer for legal advice, blah blah blah.)
Before you go all postal with visions of 1984 in your head, read the actual text. It's still being modified, but the current version will always be found at http://www.suespammers.org/us. There's *nothing* in there about bounties.
For the record, I don't see how a government-sponsored bounty program could work for spam. The problems aren't in finding good examples of spam -- we all get those every day! The barriers are:
Having good laws (that define spam accurately and give right of action to both the individual and the ISP)
Getting a name and address to which you can serve papers
Collecting after judgement.
All three of these problems are made much easier to overcome with a strong government mandate. But bounties? I don't see it.
Too often, arguments about spam focus on two areas:
The spam's content, and
The "legitness" of the sending company.
Sure, most of the spam you get is from clueless scammers, but spam from "legit" companies costs you exactly as much.
That's why I'd like to encourage meritorious suits against both classes of spammers, the chickenboners and the "pros". See http://www.suespammers.org for hints on how to do it.
Just a quick note to further thank Troy, Dan and the rest of the folks at Terra Soft for their continued interest in supporting non-Apple PPC machines, and to encourage people to check out this project to find out about the future of non-Apple PPC boxen.
I can hear the yowls from here... "What non-Apple PPC machines?" Right now, there aren't many other than IBM's server line, although you can buy a Sandpoint reference board from Motorola and miscellaneous boards from smaller vendors. (See http://www.openppc.org/vendors.html for a full list.)
But back in August, IBM announced that it would be releasing an open, reference motherboard design for PPC ("POP", or PowerPC Open Platform). The schematics came out quickly, but the whole project's been bogged down in testing because of a faulty northbridge. In the meantime, however, a small community project has sprung up to track POP, at http://www.openppc.org. Interested parties are encouraged to sign up for the mailing list and plumb the Web site for tasty nuggets of goodness.
Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?
(Aww, come on, moderate it up. I just want to see what he says.:) )
--Tom
Re:Please answer these questions?
on
SuSE For PPC
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· Score: 3
well there's already a project in progress to build an open powerpc motherboard that has all the standard pc components.
See The OpenPPC Project to get in touch with the community. The mailing list is essential for those interested in this subject.
IBM has basicly given to any serious takers the full specs for their reference ppc board.
Not yet, they haven't. Because of problems with the Northbridge, they've held off on releasing the all-important Gerber (layout) files. The schematics are there, though.
Re:When will Red Hat join?
on
SuSE For PPC
·
· Score: 2
Red Hat has no reason to buy LinuxPPC Inc., and I think it would be a bad move. Here's why:
Red Hat already has a PPC distribution, albeit an unsupported one. It's on their "Rough Cuts" CD. (A complete list of PPC distros is on the OpenPPC software page.
There are business problems at LinuxPPC -- I personally had to sue them to get paid for work I did. (Follow-ups in private, please.) In the process, I discovered that their papers of incorporation weren't in order and other irregularities.
LinuxPPC Inc. has only two assets: (1) A (sort of) well-known name, and (2) connections with the community. I'd argue that the latter is tenuous at best, and that developers would put their efforts behind a Red Hat brand without any money changing hands.
In short, LinuxPPC Inc. adds nothing to the equation.
--Tom Geller, co-founder, The OpenPPC Project, for PPC hardware based on open designs.
P.S. I'm talking about LinuxPPC Inc., the corporation, not LinuxPPC.org, the community collaboration. And there are some individuals at LinuxPPC Inc. who are quite good (get well soon, Jason!). But Red Hat would be foolish to throw any money their way IMHO.
Free POP3 accounts in an antispam state -- and served by a prosecution-ready administrator (me) -- are already available. See http://www.suespammers.org/pop3. The whole raison d'etre is right there. I forget the exact number, but I think around 120 people have signed up for @suespammers.org addresses already.
One way to approach this problem is by finding causes that are in both parties' best interests. That's what I try to do with The Suespammers Project. The Internet Community wants to stop spam, and we finally have laws in 14 states to assist us: Lawyers are always looking for interesting (and potentially lucrative) fields. With statutory judgements up to $25,000/day plus attorney's fees, antispam law may be one place the twain can happily meet.
Slashdot Mirror
I wouldn't consider "a Windows version" to be a solution to *anything*, but that's another matter...
--Tom
I'm running both Mac OS 9.1 and Red Hat 6.2 servers, with Mac OS 9.1 clients throughout. I'd actually consider making them all Yellow Dog Linux clients: FileMaker is pretty much the one essential application I can't give up, and I haven't seen any front ends nearly as flexible or easy to develop for. Thanks,
--Tom
In 1990, I spoke before the Cincinnati City Council about some gay-related issue: Business effects of quality of life were at the crux of my statement. I was then graduating from college, and trying to decide where I wanted to live. I loved Cincinnati for many reasons, but also learned to distrust the local law enforcement. (The long-time and still-current sheriff once allowed the male rapist of a lesbian to go free because, he said, "it was for her own good".)
We can trace Silicon Valley's boom to many factors, but the influence of the socially liberal San Francisco must be considered high among them. Not that a socially liberal society will always encourage business growth: But in a business that relies on the work of artists (such as software development), it's essential. --Tom Geller
--Tom
For small organizations (i.e., under 25 full-time staff people), you can probably contact the proposed speaker directly. You might have to go through a secretary: Be courteous and follow their rules. The speakers will probably make arrangements themselves.
Organizations of 25-75 people often have a dedicated Public Relations Manager to handle such things: Ask for them. They in turn might send you to a freelancer or small agency, who'll make the arrangements.
With companies of this size and bigger, they probably won't be interested unless:
- You can deliver audience members who are in their target markets
- You can deliver large, high-profile audiences ("opinion leaders"), and/or
- The talk is convenient for them.
In short, you'll have a hard time getting someone to get on a plane to appear before your 20-member User's Group.Finally, for bigger organizations (75+ full-time staff), you may have to deal with the organization's P.R. firm. Go to their Web site, look under the "About us" button, then to the "Press" section. If they don't list a press contact, look for contact names and numbers on press releases.
Don't be discouraged if they turn you down, and feel free to pester them if they don't return your emails and phone calls within a week. Good luck!
--Tom Geller
President, Bandwidth P.R.
I was at the Vintage Computer Fair last weekend, and the going rate is about ten bucks. Yes, with manuals and everything. My VIC-20 isn't even worth a quarter of that price, and that's including the original boxes, manuals, an expansion card, programs on tape, and a bunch of other cool original stuff.
By the way, the original price was... $99.95! (Oh, O.K.... they started out at $199.95, but were later lowered to $99.95. I last saw a new one in a store in New York City in the late 80s for $14.95.)
This link may be of interest to the ZX-curious. --Tom
You could also sell them on security and reliability, areas in which IIS simply falls on its face. A look through old Slashdot stories will give you ammunition. --Tom
Unfortunately, IBM never released the layout files ("Gerbers") because of problems with the northbridge. The project's pretty moribund these days, but who knows? Maybe IBM will revisit the idea of creating a reference design for the 405 chips (and similar), and we'll have inexpensive, third-party PPC-based motherboards yet.
Tom Geller, co-founder, The OpenPPC Project
Second, if you request a galley copy, it's considered quite unethical to sell it -- doubly so before the publication date. OTOH, if the seller received the copy unsolicited, I see no reason not to sell it. :)
--Tom Geller, Editor of Bisexuali ty: A Reader and Sourcebook.
Now IBM's investing in Linux development, and I have to wonder: What role (if any) will the PowerPC processor have in all of this? Will Intel's involvement help drive a one-OS, one-processor world? I hope not, especially as Intel's processors leave a lot to be desired, especially in the area of power consumption.
--Tom Geller, co-founder, The OpenPPC Project
--Tom, Suespammers.org founder
I doubt that. You're probably confusing the MAPS RBL with ORBS. The MAPS RBL usually doesn't list open relays, unless the owner takes the attitude of, "We leave the relay open so people can spam thhrough it." They go to great lengths to contact spam-producing domains before listing, and makes an honest effort to get them to change their ways. It's REALLY HARD to get someone listed on the MAPS RBL: Merely reporting an open relay ain't enough. They require extensive documentation.
ORBS, on the other hand, actively probes networks and lists them without notification if they have an open relay.
--Tom
You can see over 600 reviews of mine on my Web site.
Having said all that, back to the question: Are Linux reviews fixed? The answer: It depends on the integrity of the individual journalist and publication. For the most part, very few reviews are fixed in the sense that there's pay for a positive evaluation.
When it does happen, it's usually for one of two reasons. The most common reason is that the media outlet is actually an advertising vehicle, and this fact is given up front. One example is "Bunting's Window", the high-tech products show that appears on most in-flight video programs in the U.S. If you look carefully, there's a statement in there about how "promotional consideration" has been paid by companies whose products appear in the show. That promotional consideration is typically in the 5-6 figures. The producers know that most viewers don't know what "promotional consideration" means -- but hey, at least they said it.
The second way that reviews are "fixed" is in media outlets that are less open about their pay-for-play policies. That's considered unethical almost universally in the U.S., but not overseas: For example, the (now-defunct?) Japanese print version of MacWEEK ran positive reviews face-to-face with a full-page ad for the product reviewed. In the U.S., it's often smaller and more cash-strapped publications that tie advertising and gifts to reviews results. These publications deserve their (generally low) reputations.
O.K., so there's little out-and-out fixing. However, reviews often skim over negative points. Again, there are two common justifications. The first reason -- and one that affects "community" publications, such as those in the Mac and Linux worlds -- is that readers really *want* to hear good things about their community, rather than serious evaluations. That's understandable, but not (IMHO) good: Saplings may need protection, but they also need a chance to grow into storm-weathered oaks.
The more pernicious sort of "fix" is when journalists abandon their evaluative senses because of peer pressure. We all know the big example: Microsoft Windows. [Insert here description of bugs and security holes ignored by the media.] Why do they do this? Because... well, because they're human. They may have friends at the company, or have personal (non-financial) reasons for wanting the product to succeed, or whatever -- the fact is, it happens.
However, *almost never* do journalists give good reviews for financial reasons, or for gifts, or for fear that the company will "dry up" if they slam the product. If it's valuable for a company to have its products appear in a publication, they'll be back with the next version, no matter how bad past reviews have been. And if it's not valuable to have reviews in that publication... well, then, why would companies bother with it in the first place?
--Tom Geller, Geller Communications, http://www.tgeller.com
For example: Fiberless optics (via a system of relayed lasers) and satellites (a la Globalstar). These technologies certainly aren't as well-developed as 100-year-old radio, but they're showing a lot of promise.
Full disclosure: I do P.R. for Globalstar. (Not that it's relevant to this post...)
--Tom
POP is IBM's PPC-based reference platform, which will (we hope!) allow OEMs to build inexpensive and clever PPC-based applications. Design files for the first version of POP never came out due to a bad part (the Northbridge, from Winbond); according to Brad, a "POP2" is on its way.
As always, further info is at http://www.openppc.org.
--Tom Geller
Co-founder, The OpenPPC Project
--Tom Geller
Co-founder, The OpenPPC Project
See http://www.suespammers.org for all the juicy details.
--Tom Geller, Founder, The Suespammers Project
For the record, I don't see how a government-sponsored bounty program could work for spam. The problems aren't in finding good examples of spam -- we all get those every day! The barriers are:
- Having good laws (that define spam accurately and give right of action to both the individual and the ISP)
- Getting a name and address to which you can serve papers
- Collecting after judgement.
All three of these problems are made much easier to overcome with a strong government mandate. But bounties? I don't see it.--Tom Geller, Founder and Administrator, The Suespammers Project (http://www.suespammers.org)
- The spam's content, and
- The "legitness" of the sending company.
Sure, most of the spam you get is from clueless scammers, but spam from "legit" companies costs you exactly as much.That's why I'd like to encourage meritorious suits against both classes of spammers, the chickenboners and the "pros". See http://www.suespammers.org for hints on how to do it.
--Tom Geller
Founder, Suespammers.org
I can hear the yowls from here... "What non-Apple PPC machines?" Right now, there aren't many other than IBM's server line, although you can buy a Sandpoint reference board from Motorola and miscellaneous boards from smaller vendors. (See http://www.openppc.org/vendors.html for a full list.)
But back in August, IBM announced that it would be releasing an open, reference motherboard design for PPC ("POP", or PowerPC Open Platform). The schematics came out quickly, but the whole project's been bogged down in testing because of a faulty northbridge. In the meantime, however, a small community project has sprung up to track POP, at http://www.openppc.org. Interested parties are encouraged to sign up for the mailing list and plumb the Web site for tasty nuggets of goodness.
--Tom Geller
Co-founder, The OpenPPC Project
(Aww, come on, moderate it up. I just want to see what he says. :) )
--Tom
See The OpenPPC Project to get in touch with the community. The mailing list is essential for those interested in this subject.
IBM has basicly given to any serious takers the full specs for their reference ppc board.
Not yet, they haven't. Because of problems with the Northbridge, they've held off on releasing the all-important Gerber (layout) files. The schematics are there, though.
--Tom Geller
Co-founder, The OpenPPC Project
President, Pop Computers (to build motherboards based on open designs).
- Red Hat already has a PPC distribution, albeit an unsupported one. It's on their "Rough Cuts" CD. (A complete list of PPC distros is on the OpenPPC software page.
- There are business problems at LinuxPPC -- I personally had to sue them to get paid for work I did. (Follow-ups in private, please.) In the process, I discovered that their papers of incorporation weren't in order and other irregularities.
- LinuxPPC Inc. has only two assets: (1) A (sort of) well-known name, and (2) connections with the community. I'd argue that the latter is tenuous at best, and that developers would put their efforts behind a Red Hat brand without any money changing hands.
In short, LinuxPPC Inc. adds nothing to the equation.--Tom Geller, co-founder, The OpenPPC Project, for PPC hardware based on open designs.
P.S. I'm talking about LinuxPPC Inc., the corporation, not LinuxPPC.org, the community collaboration. And there are some individuals at LinuxPPC Inc. who are quite good (get well soon, Jason!). But Red Hat would be foolish to throw any money their way IMHO.
Uh-oh, I'm about to get slashdotted...
--Tom Geller, suespammers.org czar
--Tom Geller
Founder, The Suespammers Project