Guys, do you really think that the Sat. companies are going to broadcast 100s of NBC stations instead of 2 (New York and LA, to get the east coast and west coast network stuff) and provice 198 more pay per view channels?
People don't really care about the local as much as they care about the network programming.
However, there is some good in this country to have local news. Any more eliminatation of local involvement jeopardizes the Republic, that needs a citizenry knowledgable of what is going on at the local level. The separation of powers between the state and federal governments is weakened if you don't get information on local officials without jumping through hoops...
IIS 5.0 and now IIS 6.0 have a lot of extra support for maintaining and monitoring information from different sites on the same server. While Apache is great for really running different sites, IIS's reporting is apprently more interesting to the search engine spam sites that I've talked to.
Many of them run 5000-10000 domains on 1-2 IIS machines because IIS means they can monitor things with less technical staff. The acknowledge that Apache is better for the serving, but they like IIS's reporting better.
I wouldn't put too much stock in this stuff. I mean, who cares about an Apache/IIS popularity contest, use the server that matters.
Apache also isn't helpped that the 2.0 project went on forever AND most of us are still on 1.3. My understanding is that 2.0 introduces a lot of new features to be competitive with the IIS stuff, but none of us appear interested in learning to use it. I mean, I don't need my web server to do THAT much, PHP processing is more useful for me than Apache directives, so I don't care about more functionality.
Ya know, first its anti-aircraft guns, then you'll suggest that our Air Force defend the nation's borders with regular patrols. Keep it up and you'll start advocating that we develop the ability to shoot down an incoming missile so Iraq isn't one nuclear warhead away from blackmailling us.
Crazy talk... We don't need a military, if we just gave the terrorists hugs and killed all the Jews in Israel, this would go away. Oh wait, never mind, THAT'S the insane plan.
I say this as a Jew that is 100% certain that the UN partition plan for Palestine was conceived of for a Jewish state with 0% chance of survival, figuring that the European Jews would go to Israel, get killed by the Arabs, and the Europeans wouldn't have to deal with my people again.
Oops, didn't work that out that way. Now deal with the fact that we still exist and stop supporting terrorists...
President Bush, any chance of having the Stealth Bombers hit Paris on the way to the region? A couple good hits there would teach them a few lessons...
I think that FEMA analysis is useful from a strategic standpoint, but not from placing blame. Last September, I listened to people ask why the building collapsed. Duh, cause the crazy Islamist kamikazi pilots flew two planes into them.
We've learned a lot about fire control and evacuation. The horrible stories of people that couldn't get out is horrible.
Granted, the "blame" isn't poor engineering, buy psychotic Islamists that decided to blow up lower Manhattan.
Hopefully when this situation is depoliticized, the FEMA report will help us in engineering future office buildings.
A few years ago I took a job at a publically traded (in Canada, long story) company with a lot of money. We replaced our aging Dell workstations with Compaq desktop machiens (I love Compaq support, HATE Dell... only bad experiences with Dell), added a nice Compaq Proliant NT server, moving the old Dell Poweredge to BDC. Setup an NT 4.0 VPN.
Well the company tanked. The remains of the company, to stay on the public market and have value as a shell, rented the space to a company started by the senior management of the public company. They subletted part to us (myself and one of the other developers). We kept the network infrastructure.
However, now instead of a fulltime IT guy (which was me), I have to keep it alive in my spare time. Anytime spent on it is time I'm not moving my business foward.
We built web deployed technology. We use Apache, PHP, PostgreSQL. We use OpenBSD for the web servers because its fast to setup and REALLY secure out of the gate. We use Linux for database serving because Linux runs a fast PostgreSQL server, OpenBSD is lousy at it.
Basically, I have a little bit of specialty software that doesn't run on a Macintosh... Quickbooks being the application. I can run that in Virtual PC or on dedicated Quickbooks machines.
If you do web design, you need to view the page in Windows w/ IE. In fact, with a dedicated web browsing machine, I could set it to multiboot multiple OS installations to see it in IE 4.01, 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0.
Basically, we went straight Compaq. M300 laptops then, and my new company got M700 laptops. We use the Armadastation EM as a docking solution, with one at the office and one at home. Dual monitor should have been easy, add a PCI card. I grabbed one at a computer store, it failled, so I called up Compaq and asked what to buy. This took a few days of runaround.
I really am looking at the whole widget issue as pleasant. Less administration, more just working. And standardizing on Unix for servers seems nice, workstations being Unix-like is a bonus.
I really hope that they are able to work this all out. That makes sense from Apple's legal department, but not from a desire to get good code written. Perhaps they can speak with his parents and arrange for them to sign an authorization on his behalf. I really hope that a good solution can be found.
Laugh, because when I was 13-16, I had unlimited time, and no money. It seemed natural to me to tweak my system to get that extra 5% performance. I thought that I was getting extra computer for free, something not available to Mac people. I did want to get a Mac then, to play Bolo. But I couldn't afford one. I wasn't trying to run a small business and put food on the table then, I was playing with my computer and occaisionally downloading nude photos from BBSes.:)
The Mac TCO issue is real. Running around dealing with everything with the Windows machines drives me nuts. Because of user stupidity, I can't just reimage the machines regularly, they screw around. We don't have a help desk. We don't have VB guys. We have our own toolkit that sits on top of PHP and PostgreSQL, and lets us crank out our applications.
I really don't have much that I need the machines to do. I just don't want them continuing to screw things up and drive me crazy.
I will consider maintaining Exchange and Outlook, but I want to kill off the NT Domains. Maybe if we could do a netinfo -> Samba PDC gateway...
Argh, I don't want to babysit the Exchange server. I want it to die! It makes me miserable.
We haven't been able to get a good solution for our dual monitors hassels, under Win2K OR WinXP. We finanlly worked with Compaq to get this working on the laptop dockingstation, but they won't give me the fix. I had to download a hack tool from matroxusers.com to disable bus mastering support. This was because Compaq informed me that if we bought Matrox G400s and disabled bus mastering, it would work.
Our core business (the thing that brings IN money) involves systems on a Unix environment. If I drop Unix and go all Windows, I have to shut the company down. Therefore, I dismiss that solution.
Our network is all Windows. The costs are strating to strangle us. If I get a full time NT guy to get the NT network working right, I can't afford the Unix guy. I need the Unix guy for the core business. Scripting the few things for the Internal network would be secondary to the core business.
The iMacs look cool. That may sound silly, but its a bonus when potential clients or potential partners swing by the office. The high tech look helps.
Here is the thing, for development (again, the core business), we use SecureCRT to connect into Unix machines. For actually editting the code, some use Editpad Pro for PHP and Jcreator for Java (two REALLY nice Shareware apps, I think my development software budget is like $100/developer and we got a GREAT environment) with Samba on a development Unix machines to code on.
The only things that Windows does for us is Microsoft Office (which OS X does as well) and Exchange. With OS X, I replace the profile disaster (that costs me a lot of whining each weak) and logon script issues with NFS mounting.
The only Windows-only software is the need to test HTML output under Windows and IE for public sites and Quickbooks. Two two Quickbooks users are myself and another power user, we maintain our own computes, so supporting that doesn't bother me. The Quickbooks users could get an NFS client for Windows or a simple SAMBA share, that is pretty painless.
BBEdit blows away any other editting tool that I have seen. A dual G4 w/ Cinema display would EASILY fit 4 emacs screens at once at a decent editting side, while leaving a 17" flat screen on the side would support the office applications.
My goal is to reduce administration issues WITHOUT shutting the business down, while your solution is to file bankruptcy.:) I'll pass on that solution.
I can't scrap the Unix machines, I'd LOVE to scrap the Windows machines. However, if I have 10 Windows desktops in the closet, I can give the 2 people that look do our outside world websites a Windows machine, and the two of us that do Quickbooks a Windows machine.
But if I never have to hear about a Win2K roaming profile again, I'll be a happy man.
Alex
Why we're switching - what I sent Apple
on
Apple Wants Your Input
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· Score: 5, Interesting
I haven't owned an Apple product since my Apple//c got retired. I switched to PCs because of usability. During the Mac vs. IBM compatible days, Mac users talked up usability, IBM compatible users agreed that Macs were more usable, we called them idiot machines. During DOS and DOS/Win3.1, the greater configurability of the PC made us feel like were were more in control.
I am 23 years old, a Windows NT 4.0 MCSE, run a small startup software and network services shop, and I am looking at the Macs more and more every day. When my fiancee, a senior music major, wanted a computer to be able to email, web browse, compose music on, and make MP3s of her class listening assignments (instead of sitting in the library), we found her the iBook. She decided to get the CD-RW/DVD model because she wanted to be able to make CDs of these songs so she could listen to the music assignments anywhere. She absolutely loves the machine, and the iPod I bought her for Channukah.
My office network consists of Linux servers for our database servers, (PostgreSQL 7.1), OpenBSD for the web servers, NT 4 for the internal network servers, and Windows 2000 for the desktops. After pricing out replacement desktop computers for our Compaq iPaqs, we realized how competitively priced the iMac is (with the configuration we'd get, its cheaper than the Compaq w/ monitor, a little more expensive than we'd pay without replacing our current Compaq monitors). After wrestling with dual monitor issues on Win2K, the plug and go of OS X is appealing.
The reason we will probably switch to OS X (on the desktop) this summer, TCO.
I need a full time sysadmin for our Unix machines, it is outgrowing our ability to have programmers admin the boxes. We are starting to get close to needing a full-time NT guy to administer the network. We are a small company, and both is beyond our means. We want to replace the NT network infrastructure, and switch to Linux network servers. To best make this happen, we want to migrate the desktops from Win2K Pro to Mac OS X, which we believe will reduce our network costs. We have several Windows machines, and they will likely remain for special purpose usage (web developers that need to view sites in Windows + IE, Quickbooks, other specialty applications), but everyone's primary machine will likely move from a Compaq Win2K machine to an Apple machine. Developers will get Powermacs for dual monitor support, everyone else will get iMacs.
The only thing delaying this switch (beyond startup costs of buying all these machines) is coming up with a solution to replace Exchange. We need to determine a centralized accounts repository, email, calendaring, tasks, etc., system before the migration. Afterwards, we look foward to ending this dual environment of many Unix machines and a Windows network.
Thanks for the great work. I've been following Apple with interest since the NeXTSTEP acquisition, and OS X is terrific. I feel better after a good friend that is a major Unix geek (stopped using Linux in 1997 to switch to FreeBSD, administered Solaris machines, Dec Alpha Digital UNIX machines before the Compaq buyout, etc.) recommended it as the best Unix out there.
If my employees want to undermine my business, that is their right. However, the can do so without paychecks from me. I will not support the lifestyle of soemone that wants to destroy me.
You all need to get a grip. You don't have a right to a job. There is a big difference between claiming ownership of your employee's free time and prohibiting them from engaging in certain behavior that endangers the company.
If they want to engage in behavior that hurts your company, they don't fund it from you.
Alex
Music students that need to listen to music...
on
Apple @ MacWorld Tokyo
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· Score: 3, Interesting
My fiancee is studying music in school, and she has to listen to a rediculous amount of music. One of the reasons she got a laptop was to be able to rip the CDs in the library so she wouldn't have to fight for access to them with others in the classes.
Now when she gets new listening assignments, she hops into the library, rips the CDs, syncs the iPod, and she's set. If she really likes the music, she makes a copy of the CD to go in the CD Jukebox in our apartment so she can listen to the higher quality recording.
Now she doesn't mind the 30-45 minute subway rides that she does getting around town because she just turns on her iPod and the music is waitting for her.
Could this be done with non-Apple equipment, sure. However, the two hours of helping her adjust from being a Windows user to a Mac user made up for it from reduced tech support on my end... As I type away on my Windows machine whose copy of Internet Explorer couldn't use view source last week...
Microsoft should have a policy against employees writing open source code. In fact, Microsoft should prohibit employees from writing Mac software (except the Mac BU), Unix software, Be Software, Palm software, etc.
Microsoft shouldn't pay people that use their spare time to help their competitors... Geeze...
People should use Linux, Free Software, Open Source man... Don't buy CDs from Mandrake, just download the ISO man...
Support contract? Why not just use IRC!
I'm with you... if we can't have a profitable capitalistic music industry, I'm okay with some government patronage through taxes to ensure the creation of culture (now the quality of RIAA company's contribution to culture is questionable, but in theory...)...
I mean, paying $100/year or whatever to keep my rights, sure, whatever...
Microsoft is an exceptional monopolist able to extract monopoly rents. I wish that Slashdot posters would stop suggesting that if Apple shipped an x86 OS, they'd become Microsoft.
Microsoft is the ONLY pure OS vendor. Redhat is a service/support company that also sells pretty boxes. Sun ships Iron. IBM ships Iron and does support. HP ships Iron. Until Compaq bought them, Dec shipped Iron.
Microsoft is the ONLY COMPANY, EVER, to establish itself as a large vendor selling the "virtual computer." They managed to make the hardware underneath them a commodity and provided a universal middle level that software rights to.
Forget the IE vs. Netscape web browser/middleware, Windows is middleware.
Most computer companies sell a whole widget. Microsoft functions like a hardware monopoly with outsourced production of hardware (its an economic model), you can't make money selling PCs unless you are the lowest cost provider like Dell, or you sell 'services' or 'addons' like Compaq/Dell/HP's enterprise server lines, etc.
By Windows anything I assume you mean the DOS based Windows 4.x series (95, 98, ME)... Certainly you are discounting Windows NT 3.51 SP 5 (latest NT 3.51 SP) and Windows NT 4.0 SP 3 (latest NT 4.0 service pack to support PPC when Motorola and IBM dropped support).
GNU/Linux can knock Microsoft off the desk's of technical shops that are fed up with Microsoft's crashing. However, the real area of contention is going to be the non-PC computers. Tivo uses Linux.
In reality, people that have PowerPC computers aren't looking at Windows, they are looking at MacOS X. For the embedded PPC market (much bigger) Linux is a contender against QNX, WinCE, etc.
GNU/Linux won't win by being an open standards desktop because Windows is the current de facto standard. GNU/Linux will do well in the embedded space because of price and source availability.
I barely used Winview (the OS/2 one, IIRC their second OS/2 based multi-user product). I have a Terminal Server machine in my office without Metaframe. It's used by three pepople and quite frankly it sucks. If I had more people we'd have MetaFrame.
Yeah, before they took the money, Microsoft announced that they were going to compete with Citrix and not license the NT 4.0 system to them. This was after their engineers finished Winframe 2.0.
I joined Citrix for a summer job then, started the day after the Microsoft deal was signed.
Interesting company, learned a shitload, and definitely learned a bit about Microsoft's business practices.
Alex
Re:Wow, what a victory!
on
Google Juice
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· Score: 1
Look, if you're interested in search engines, check out Webmaster World. You'll learn a lot more about search engines than reading Slashdot commentary about articles from the popular press.
These little games influence Google, but not on that many major search terms. It is MOSTLY useful for bubbling up bullshit results.
However, it is possible to spam Google, but not with what people are discussing here. BTW: amateur SEO is the best way to get your sites banned. Given that a google ban kills you on Yahoo as well, be careful. A site of mine that was making some pocket change (~$1500/mo) got the Google ban and when Yahoo changed their algorithm, BAM.
Do a search for "visa credit cards" without the quotes and see who you get. American Express doesn't have the words visa on their page (check the cache) but has many of their incoming links (from their SEO's domain farm no doubt) pushing it up for the phrase visa credit cards.
Note, do a search on 'credit cards' and you'll see Pay Pal in the top 10 without the words being on the page. Sufficient link-text can establish relevancy.
However, these blogger games are mostly silly and are simply inviting amateurs to get themselves in trouble.
The "dumb motherfucker" situation was obvious. With nobody optimized on that phrase, linking to a high PR page with that phrase would push it up. The rankings from google are mostly a matter of picking the most relevant results and sorting by PageRank (basically, sites with 2-3 toolbar PageRank lower may beat other sites by Google optimizing).
These are neat, and you should make your link text relevant and useful (people will like that too, no "click here" garbage).
Anyway, the Slashdot mental masturbation about Google's collapse because people can win worthless phrases is beyond rediculous.
Alex
It can't Googlebomb Linux Kernel Howto!
on
Google Juice
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· Score: 2
Gee, you place too much weight on blogs and link text. It's a fucking retarded game!
Try to bomb Linux Kernel Howto.
It's a respectable page, PR7, with LOTS of incomign links for "linux kernel howto", the words "linux", "kernel", and "howto" are in the URL, the title is "The Linux Kernel Howto" and nearly the first text is an H1, "The Linux Kernel Howto".
In short, the top hit is a properly done HTML page on the top with the phrase in the right places. You CAN'T Googlebomb it WITH ALL the blogs in the world.
Drop your Slashdot paranoia. Google's algorithm works REALLY fucking well. It needs tweaks (the spam filters are a little too tight), but it finds relevant content for people looking for actual stuff.
You could problem do something like Googlebomb "insecure operating system made by satan" to microsoft.com, in fact something like that was done a few years ago. You could also probably Googlebomb the Linux Kernel Howto for (commie hippie goat cheese) or something equally silly.
Then you tell all your friends and its funny.
However, people ACTUALLY would search for "kernel linux howto" or whatever, and there is a page that provides that. You can't bomb it away like that.
Alex
Not actually interesting...
on
Google Juice
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· Score: 1, Flamebait
Nobody on the Internet had a page about "dumb motherfucker" so Google did the best it could do and used the link text from one guys article. When Wired did a store, they created a page about, among other things, "dumb motherfucker". This created the change.
I mean, winning phrases that nobody searches for or puts out information isn't the most impressive thing. However, it creates a fun little game.
No problem, play games, have fun, whatever the fuck you want. But don't attack google's algorithm because of this stupid shit.
Google is the one "good guy" in the SE world right now, don't spread FUD about them for no reason.
Alex
Scientology WASN'T Blogging!
on
Google Juice
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· Score: 2
Scientology did what any company or organization that needs to get its message out on the Internet did... get a mole into the appropriate Dmoz category as editor. Dmoz categories, even pretty far down, are normally PR4-PR5 on Dmoz, plus directory.google.com with the same PR.
Now, this PR is split between Dmoz's internal linking structure and the relevant links. So if Scientology puts up 1 page, it gets 1/11th that PR (Dmoz has ~10 internal links on each page). If they put up 100 pages, they take 10/11th of the PageRank and distribute among their sites. They then do internal linking.
This lets them have pages with GOOD link text from authority (high PR, the the hubs meaning) sites (Dmoz and good mirrors kike directory.google.com) plus their internal linking.
Dmoz providing good PR AND link text, well that's a REAL boost against the competition.
Sometimes I have to do some SEO for clients. The basics involve making our content match popular keywords (that's either SEO or providing services that interest people... all in the spin), and making sure that Googlebot and other spiders can find it.
When we target niches (very few searches, little competition) it is easy to pop to the top. This makes sense, if Google only finds 200 matches on something, and I create a page focused on this topic, it should be easy to move to the top.
The bloggers have shown that you can EASILY move someone to the top of Google IF there are NO pages ACTUALLY on the topic (and who makes an "optimized" page on the topic of "talentless hack"), and you can make 1000 links to something from highly reputable sources.
I'm REALLY fucking impressed.
Now if blogs had the affect that they think they do, they could bump things up on REAL search terms. Instead, this is as cool as the phrase "dumb motherfucker" linking to then Gov. Bush's Presidential campaign site, merely because ONE (1) person linked to it with that phrase and since Google had no pages about "dumb motherfucker" in the index it threw this out.
Give me a fucking break. These guys have "undo" influence on the web because they achieved popularity (inbound links) and provide outbound links. They aren't appearing in the search results for something, but they provide Google with a clue.
All they've proven is that Google's algorithm does a REALLY good job of finding relevant content on the Internet. If no such content ACTUALLY exists, you can do near parlor tricks.
The MORE impressive action was when the guy's dispute with an ISP was beating the ISP for its own name. People linked to his article on the dispute, and it was considered a "relevant" source on the matter in Google's eyes. This means that criticism sites can do well in Google, even without.sucks domains.
It also means that people can play games with Google. But for Slashdot to post such rubish as Google is collapsing and y'all to karma whore on the matter is poor form.
Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server with Citrix MetaFrame is ALMOST identical to WinFrame 2.0 Gold that never shipped. Microsoft wrote a BIG check to license Citrix's codebase for NT 4 and NT 5.
If you honestly feel that Web Browsers and RDBMS systems are chosen for the same reasons... well you probably feel that MySQL is a RDBMS...
Sonic came out when, 1990, 1991? We're talking 12 years... Sonic (and Pikachu, Pokemon's from 1995, right?) are too young too see how well the endure.
Sonic wasn't good enough to carry the Dreamcast. I like Sonic 2 on my GCN, but I wouldn't buy a system for Sonic.
Pikachu is cool and all, but after 7 years we don't know how well Pokemon will maintain its brand. It could be an endless franchise like Mario (who dates back to approx. 1983), or fizzle out.
Samus fizzled out after Super Metroid, and I'm pysched to see the Return. However, Star Fox, while newer than Samus by about 6 or 7 years, has appeared more recently.
I'm just nitpicking, I've had Nintendo and Sega systems since the Master System and NES, both companies make different but fun games.
Third Party games? They fill niches that the First Parties lack...
I have Gauntlet, fun to play with friends. It's a niche that Nintendo doesn't fill. I wouldn't buy a system for it, however.
Don't forget Donkey Kong, it's been an independant franchise (with 2-3 games/console) since the SNES...
I bought my GBA a few months ago to have something to do on the train commuting when I'm on a brain dead day. The link-up capacity really intrigued me.
My friend got Sonic 2 for the GCN, and I got Sonic Advanced for the GBA (both games kick ass, BTW, and I have Sonic 2 as well now).
I figured, I really want to see the link-capability, and what's $100 for that...:) ($50 - Sonic 2, $10 - link cable, $40 - Sonic Advanced)...
It's really cool. Both games feature fun Sonic action (the GCN game is a decent transition of Sonic from 2D->3D, though not as good as Mario 64 was, and Sonic Advanced is fresh Sonic fun).
However, you can move Chao, the creatures from the minigame, between the systems. It sounds really dumb, but it works nicely. You get to play the game as normal, but as an added bonus you can to convert your accomplishments into little animals that you can compete with.
I really feel that RPGs will see the greatest benefit from the link-up, with Pokemon being an obvious example. You can train your Pokemon in your hand-held RPG, then compete with your friends on the TV instead of on the hand-helds.
In a more "adult" setting, I'd really like to see an "American" RPG (more character driven, not collections of cut-scenes). I mean, supposedly Camelot is releasing a Golden Sun game on the GCN that will let you bring your Golden Sun character into it, and other games could do it too.
I love Sonic, but part of the reason that the Sonic games dominate my gaming time is the link-up. I can play Sonic at home or on the road, it's Sonic everywhere.
LEt's take the "average" IT position that would justify telecommuting. We're talking a $60k+ a year employee. After adding in payroll taxes, benefits, marginal costs of office space and equipment, etc., this employee costs the company approximately $90-$100k/year. We're talking over $8000/month.
In all honestly, most employers shouldn't freak that telecommuting costs $500/month. However, it IS reasonable to have the telecommuter's salary be less IF (and this is a BIG if) the costs of the connection is greater than the overhead of them being at the office.
If your employer really feels that $100-$300/mo for a business class DSL or $500 for a fractional T1 is too much money, you might want to crunch the numbers with them.
Slashdot Mirror
Guys, do you really think that the Sat. companies are going to broadcast 100s of NBC stations instead of 2 (New York and LA, to get the east coast and west coast network stuff) and provice 198 more pay per view channels?
People don't really care about the local as much as they care about the network programming.
However, there is some good in this country to have local news. Any more eliminatation of local involvement jeopardizes the Republic, that needs a citizenry knowledgable of what is going on at the local level. The separation of powers between the state and federal governments is weakened if you don't get information on local officials without jumping through hoops...
Alex
IIS 5.0 and now IIS 6.0 have a lot of extra support for maintaining and monitoring information from different sites on the same server. While Apache is great for really running different sites, IIS's reporting is apprently more interesting to the search engine spam sites that I've talked to.
Many of them run 5000-10000 domains on 1-2 IIS machines because IIS means they can monitor things with less technical staff. The acknowledge that Apache is better for the serving, but they like IIS's reporting better.
I wouldn't put too much stock in this stuff. I mean, who cares about an Apache/IIS popularity contest, use the server that matters.
Apache also isn't helpped that the 2.0 project went on forever AND most of us are still on 1.3. My understanding is that 2.0 introduces a lot of new features to be competitive with the IIS stuff, but none of us appear interested in learning to use it. I mean, I don't need my web server to do THAT much, PHP processing is more useful for me than Apache directives, so I don't care about more functionality.
Alex
Ya know, first its anti-aircraft guns, then you'll suggest that our Air Force defend the nation's borders with regular patrols. Keep it up and you'll start advocating that we develop the ability to shoot down an incoming missile so Iraq isn't one nuclear warhead away from blackmailling us.
Crazy talk... We don't need a military, if we just gave the terrorists hugs and killed all the Jews in Israel, this would go away. Oh wait, never mind, THAT'S the insane plan.
I say this as a Jew that is 100% certain that the UN partition plan for Palestine was conceived of for a Jewish state with 0% chance of survival, figuring that the European Jews would go to Israel, get killed by the Arabs, and the Europeans wouldn't have to deal with my people again.
Oops, didn't work that out that way. Now deal with the fact that we still exist and stop supporting terrorists...
President Bush, any chance of having the Stealth Bombers hit Paris on the way to the region? A couple good hits there would teach them a few lessons...
Alex
I think that FEMA analysis is useful from a strategic standpoint, but not from placing blame. Last September, I listened to people ask why the building collapsed. Duh, cause the crazy Islamist kamikazi pilots flew two planes into them.
We've learned a lot about fire control and evacuation. The horrible stories of people that couldn't get out is horrible.
Granted, the "blame" isn't poor engineering, buy psychotic Islamists that decided to blow up lower Manhattan.
Hopefully when this situation is depoliticized, the FEMA report will help us in engineering future office buildings.
Alex
A few years ago I took a job at a publically traded (in Canada, long story) company with a lot of money. We replaced our aging Dell workstations with Compaq desktop machiens (I love Compaq support, HATE Dell... only bad experiences with Dell), added a nice Compaq Proliant NT server, moving the old Dell Poweredge to BDC. Setup an NT 4.0 VPN.
Well the company tanked. The remains of the company, to stay on the public market and have value as a shell, rented the space to a company started by the senior management of the public company. They subletted part to us (myself and one of the other developers). We kept the network infrastructure.
However, now instead of a fulltime IT guy (which was me), I have to keep it alive in my spare time. Anytime spent on it is time I'm not moving my business foward.
We built web deployed technology. We use Apache, PHP, PostgreSQL. We use OpenBSD for the web servers because its fast to setup and REALLY secure out of the gate. We use Linux for database serving because Linux runs a fast PostgreSQL server, OpenBSD is lousy at it.
Basically, I have a little bit of specialty software that doesn't run on a Macintosh... Quickbooks being the application. I can run that in Virtual PC or on dedicated Quickbooks machines.
If you do web design, you need to view the page in Windows w/ IE. In fact, with a dedicated web browsing machine, I could set it to multiboot multiple OS installations to see it in IE 4.01, 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0.
Basically, we went straight Compaq. M300 laptops then, and my new company got M700 laptops. We use the Armadastation EM as a docking solution, with one at the office and one at home. Dual monitor should have been easy, add a PCI card. I grabbed one at a computer store, it failled, so I called up Compaq and asked what to buy. This took a few days of runaround.
I really am looking at the whole widget issue as pleasant. Less administration, more just working. And standardizing on Unix for servers seems nice, workstations being Unix-like is a bonus.
Alex
I really hope that they are able to work this all out. That makes sense from Apple's legal department, but not from a desire to get good code written. Perhaps they can speak with his parents and arrange for them to sign an authorization on his behalf. I really hope that a good solution can be found.
Alex
Laugh, because when I was 13-16, I had unlimited time, and no money. It seemed natural to me to tweak my system to get that extra 5% performance. I thought that I was getting extra computer for free, something not available to Mac people. I did want to get a Mac then, to play Bolo. But I couldn't afford one. I wasn't trying to run a small business and put food on the table then, I was playing with my computer and occaisionally downloading nude photos from BBSes. :)
The Mac TCO issue is real. Running around dealing with everything with the Windows machines drives me nuts. Because of user stupidity, I can't just reimage the machines regularly, they screw around. We don't have a help desk. We don't have VB guys. We have our own toolkit that sits on top of PHP and PostgreSQL, and lets us crank out our applications.
I really don't have much that I need the machines to do. I just don't want them continuing to screw things up and drive me crazy.
I will consider maintaining Exchange and Outlook, but I want to kill off the NT Domains. Maybe if we could do a netinfo -> Samba PDC gateway...
Argh, I don't want to babysit the Exchange server. I want it to die! It makes me miserable.
Alex
We haven't been able to get a good solution for our dual monitors hassels, under Win2K OR WinXP. We finanlly worked with Compaq to get this working on the laptop dockingstation, but they won't give me the fix. I had to download a hack tool from matroxusers.com to disable bus mastering support. This was because Compaq informed me that if we bought Matrox G400s and disabled bus mastering, it would work.
:) I'll pass on that solution.
Our core business (the thing that brings IN money) involves systems on a Unix environment. If I drop Unix and go all Windows, I have to shut the company down. Therefore, I dismiss that solution.
Our network is all Windows. The costs are strating to strangle us. If I get a full time NT guy to get the NT network working right, I can't afford the Unix guy. I need the Unix guy for the core business. Scripting the few things for the Internal network would be secondary to the core business.
The iMacs look cool. That may sound silly, but its a bonus when potential clients or potential partners swing by the office. The high tech look helps.
Here is the thing, for development (again, the core business), we use SecureCRT to connect into Unix machines. For actually editting the code, some use Editpad Pro for PHP and Jcreator for Java (two REALLY nice Shareware apps, I think my development software budget is like $100/developer and we got a GREAT environment) with Samba on a development Unix machines to code on.
The only things that Windows does for us is Microsoft Office (which OS X does as well) and Exchange. With OS X, I replace the profile disaster (that costs me a lot of whining each weak) and logon script issues with NFS mounting.
The only Windows-only software is the need to test HTML output under Windows and IE for public sites and Quickbooks. Two two Quickbooks users are myself and another power user, we maintain our own computes, so supporting that doesn't bother me. The Quickbooks users could get an NFS client for Windows or a simple SAMBA share, that is pretty painless.
BBEdit blows away any other editting tool that I have seen. A dual G4 w/ Cinema display would EASILY fit 4 emacs screens at once at a decent editting side, while leaving a 17" flat screen on the side would support the office applications.
My goal is to reduce administration issues WITHOUT shutting the business down, while your solution is to file bankruptcy.
I can't scrap the Unix machines, I'd LOVE to scrap the Windows machines. However, if I have 10 Windows desktops in the closet, I can give the 2 people that look do our outside world websites a Windows machine, and the two of us that do Quickbooks a Windows machine.
But if I never have to hear about a Win2K roaming profile again, I'll be a happy man.
Alex
I haven't owned an Apple product since my Apple //c got retired. I switched to PCs because of usability. During the Mac vs. IBM compatible days, Mac users talked up usability, IBM compatible users agreed that Macs were more usable, we called them idiot machines. During DOS and DOS/Win3.1, the greater configurability of the PC made us feel like were were more in control.
I am 23 years old, a Windows NT 4.0 MCSE, run a small startup software and network services shop, and I am looking at the Macs more and more every day. When my fiancee, a senior music major, wanted a computer to be able to email, web browse, compose music on, and make MP3s of her class listening assignments (instead of sitting in the library), we found her the iBook. She decided to get the CD-RW/DVD model because she wanted to be able to make CDs of these songs so she could listen to the music assignments anywhere. She absolutely loves the machine, and the iPod I bought her for Channukah.
My office network consists of Linux servers for our database servers, (PostgreSQL 7.1), OpenBSD for the web servers, NT 4 for the internal network servers, and Windows 2000 for the desktops. After pricing out replacement desktop computers for our Compaq iPaqs, we realized how competitively priced the iMac is (with the configuration we'd get, its cheaper than the Compaq w/ monitor, a little more expensive than we'd pay without replacing our current Compaq monitors). After wrestling with dual monitor issues on Win2K, the plug and go of OS X is appealing.
The reason we will probably switch to OS X (on the desktop) this summer, TCO.
I need a full time sysadmin for our Unix machines, it is outgrowing our ability to have programmers admin the boxes. We are starting to get close to needing a full-time NT guy to administer the network. We are a small company, and both is beyond our means. We want to replace the NT network infrastructure, and switch to Linux network servers. To best make this happen, we want to migrate the desktops from Win2K Pro to Mac OS X, which we believe will reduce our network costs. We have several Windows machines, and they will likely remain for special purpose usage (web developers that need to view sites in Windows + IE, Quickbooks, other specialty applications), but everyone's primary machine will likely move from a Compaq Win2K machine to an Apple machine. Developers will get Powermacs for dual monitor support, everyone else will get iMacs.
The only thing delaying this switch (beyond startup costs of buying all these machines) is coming up with a solution to replace Exchange. We need to determine a centralized accounts repository, email, calendaring, tasks, etc., system before the migration. Afterwards, we look foward to ending this dual environment of many Unix machines and a Windows network.
Thanks for the great work. I've been following Apple with interest since the NeXTSTEP acquisition, and OS X is terrific. I feel better after a good friend that is a major Unix geek (stopped using Linux in 1997 to switch to FreeBSD, administered Solaris machines, Dec Alpha Digital UNIX machines before the Compaq buyout, etc.) recommended it as the best Unix out there.
Alex Hochberger
Feratech, Inc.
If my employees want to undermine my business, that is their right. However, the can do so without paychecks from me. I will not support the lifestyle of soemone that wants to destroy me.
You all need to get a grip. You don't have a right to a job. There is a big difference between claiming ownership of your employee's free time and prohibiting them from engaging in certain behavior that endangers the company.
If they want to engage in behavior that hurts your company, they don't fund it from you.
Alex
My fiancee is studying music in school, and she has to listen to a rediculous amount of music. One of the reasons she got a laptop was to be able to rip the CDs in the library so she wouldn't have to fight for access to them with others in the classes.
Now when she gets new listening assignments, she hops into the library, rips the CDs, syncs the iPod, and she's set. If she really likes the music, she makes a copy of the CD to go in the CD Jukebox in our apartment so she can listen to the higher quality recording.
Now she doesn't mind the 30-45 minute subway rides that she does getting around town because she just turns on her iPod and the music is waitting for her.
Could this be done with non-Apple equipment, sure. However, the two hours of helping her adjust from being a Windows user to a Mac user made up for it from reduced tech support on my end... As I type away on my Windows machine whose copy of Internet Explorer couldn't use view source last week...
Alex
Microsoft should have a policy against employees writing open source code. In fact, Microsoft should prohibit employees from writing Mac software (except the Mac BU), Unix software, Be Software, Palm software, etc.
Microsoft shouldn't pay people that use their spare time to help their competitors... Geeze...
Alex
This is Slashdot... rights money....
People should use Linux, Free Software, Open Source man... Don't buy CDs from Mandrake, just download the ISO man...
Support contract? Why not just use IRC!
I'm with you... if we can't have a profitable capitalistic music industry, I'm okay with some government patronage through taxes to ensure the creation of culture (now the quality of RIAA company's contribution to culture is questionable, but in theory...)...
I mean, paying $100/year or whatever to keep my rights, sure, whatever...
Life, liberty, property... in that order...
Alex
Microsoft is an exceptional monopolist able to extract monopoly rents. I wish that Slashdot posters would stop suggesting that if Apple shipped an x86 OS, they'd become Microsoft.
Microsoft is the ONLY pure OS vendor. Redhat is a service/support company that also sells pretty boxes. Sun ships Iron. IBM ships Iron and does support. HP ships Iron. Until Compaq bought them, Dec shipped Iron.
Microsoft is the ONLY COMPANY, EVER, to establish itself as a large vendor selling the "virtual computer." They managed to make the hardware underneath them a commodity and provided a universal middle level that software rights to.
Forget the IE vs. Netscape web browser/middleware, Windows is middleware.
Most computer companies sell a whole widget. Microsoft functions like a hardware monopoly with outsourced production of hardware (its an economic model), you can't make money selling PCs unless you are the lowest cost provider like Dell, or you sell 'services' or 'addons' like Compaq/Dell/HP's enterprise server lines, etc.
Alex
By Windows anything I assume you mean the DOS based Windows 4.x series (95, 98, ME)... Certainly you are discounting Windows NT 3.51 SP 5 (latest NT 3.51 SP) and Windows NT 4.0 SP 3 (latest NT 4.0 service pack to support PPC when Motorola and IBM dropped support).
GNU/Linux can knock Microsoft off the desk's of technical shops that are fed up with Microsoft's crashing. However, the real area of contention is going to be the non-PC computers. Tivo uses Linux.
In reality, people that have PowerPC computers aren't looking at Windows, they are looking at MacOS X. For the embedded PPC market (much bigger) Linux is a contender against QNX, WinCE, etc.
GNU/Linux won't win by being an open standards desktop because Windows is the current de facto standard. GNU/Linux will do well in the embedded space because of price and source availability.
Alex
I barely used Winview (the OS/2 one, IIRC their second OS/2 based multi-user product). I have a Terminal Server machine in my office without Metaframe. It's used by three pepople and quite frankly it sucks. If I had more people we'd have MetaFrame.
Yeah, before they took the money, Microsoft announced that they were going to compete with Citrix and not license the NT 4.0 system to them. This was after their engineers finished Winframe 2.0.
I joined Citrix for a summer job then, started the day after the Microsoft deal was signed.
Interesting company, learned a shitload, and definitely learned a bit about Microsoft's business practices.
Alex
Look, if you're interested in search engines, check out Webmaster World. You'll learn a lot more about search engines than reading Slashdot commentary about articles from the popular press.
These little games influence Google, but not on that many major search terms. It is MOSTLY useful for bubbling up bullshit results.
However, it is possible to spam Google, but not with what people are discussing here. BTW: amateur SEO is the best way to get your sites banned. Given that a google ban kills you on Yahoo as well, be careful. A site of mine that was making some pocket change (~$1500/mo) got the Google ban and when Yahoo changed their algorithm, BAM.
Do a search for "visa credit cards" without the quotes and see who you get. American Express doesn't have the words visa on their page (check the cache) but has many of their incoming links (from their SEO's domain farm no doubt) pushing it up for the phrase visa credit cards.
Note, do a search on 'credit cards' and you'll see Pay Pal in the top 10 without the words being on the page. Sufficient link-text can establish relevancy.
However, these blogger games are mostly silly and are simply inviting amateurs to get themselves in trouble.
The "dumb motherfucker" situation was obvious. With nobody optimized on that phrase, linking to a high PR page with that phrase would push it up. The rankings from google are mostly a matter of picking the most relevant results and sorting by PageRank (basically, sites with 2-3 toolbar PageRank lower may beat other sites by Google optimizing).
These are neat, and you should make your link text relevant and useful (people will like that too, no "click here" garbage).
Anyway, the Slashdot mental masturbation about Google's collapse because people can win worthless phrases is beyond rediculous.
Alex
Gee, you place too much weight on blogs and link text. It's a fucking retarded game!
Try to bomb Linux Kernel Howto.
It's a respectable page, PR7, with LOTS of incomign links for "linux kernel howto", the words "linux", "kernel", and "howto" are in the URL, the title is "The Linux Kernel Howto" and nearly the first text is an H1, "The Linux Kernel Howto".
In short, the top hit is a properly done HTML page on the top with the phrase in the right places. You CAN'T Googlebomb it WITH ALL the blogs in the world.
Drop your Slashdot paranoia. Google's algorithm works REALLY fucking well. It needs tweaks (the spam filters are a little too tight), but it finds relevant content for people looking for actual stuff.
You could problem do something like Googlebomb "insecure operating system made by satan" to microsoft.com, in fact something like that was done a few years ago. You could also probably Googlebomb the Linux Kernel Howto for (commie hippie goat cheese) or something equally silly.
Then you tell all your friends and its funny.
However, people ACTUALLY would search for "kernel linux howto" or whatever, and there is a page that provides that. You can't bomb it away like that.
Alex
Nobody on the Internet had a page about "dumb motherfucker" so Google did the best it could do and used the link text from one guys article. When Wired did a store, they created a page about, among other things, "dumb motherfucker". This created the change.
I mean, winning phrases that nobody searches for or puts out information isn't the most impressive thing. However, it creates a fun little game.
No problem, play games, have fun, whatever the fuck you want. But don't attack google's algorithm because of this stupid shit.
Google is the one "good guy" in the SE world right now, don't spread FUD about them for no reason.
Alex
Scientology did what any company or organization that needs to get its message out on the Internet did... get a mole into the appropriate Dmoz category as editor. Dmoz categories, even pretty far down, are normally PR4-PR5 on Dmoz, plus directory.google.com with the same PR.
Now, this PR is split between Dmoz's internal linking structure and the relevant links. So if Scientology puts up 1 page, it gets 1/11th that PR (Dmoz has ~10 internal links on each page). If they put up 100 pages, they take 10/11th of the PageRank and distribute among their sites. They then do internal linking.
This lets them have pages with GOOD link text from authority (high PR, the the hubs meaning) sites (Dmoz and good mirrors kike directory.google.com) plus their internal linking.
Dmoz providing good PR AND link text, well that's a REAL boost against the competition.
Alex
Sometimes I have to do some SEO for clients. The basics involve making our content match popular keywords (that's either SEO or providing services that interest people... all in the spin), and making sure that Googlebot and other spiders can find it.
.sucks domains.
When we target niches (very few searches, little competition) it is easy to pop to the top. This makes sense, if Google only finds 200 matches on something, and I create a page focused on this topic, it should be easy to move to the top.
The bloggers have shown that you can EASILY move someone to the top of Google IF there are NO pages ACTUALLY on the topic (and who makes an "optimized" page on the topic of "talentless hack"), and you can make 1000 links to something from highly reputable sources.
I'm REALLY fucking impressed.
Now if blogs had the affect that they think they do, they could bump things up on REAL search terms. Instead, this is as cool as the phrase "dumb motherfucker" linking to then Gov. Bush's Presidential campaign site, merely because ONE (1) person linked to it with that phrase and since Google had no pages about "dumb motherfucker" in the index it threw this out.
Give me a fucking break. These guys have "undo" influence on the web because they achieved popularity (inbound links) and provide outbound links. They aren't appearing in the search results for something, but they provide Google with a clue.
All they've proven is that Google's algorithm does a REALLY good job of finding relevant content on the Internet. If no such content ACTUALLY exists, you can do near parlor tricks.
The MORE impressive action was when the guy's dispute with an ISP was beating the ISP for its own name. People linked to his article on the dispute, and it was considered a "relevant" source on the matter in Google's eyes. This means that criticism sites can do well in Google, even without
It also means that people can play games with Google. But for Slashdot to post such rubish as Google is collapsing and y'all to karma whore on the matter is poor form.
Alex
Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server with Citrix MetaFrame is ALMOST identical to WinFrame 2.0 Gold that never shipped. Microsoft wrote a BIG check to license Citrix's codebase for NT 4 and NT 5.
If you honestly feel that Web Browsers and RDBMS systems are chosen for the same reasons... well you probably feel that MySQL is a RDBMS...
Alex
Sonic came out when, 1990, 1991? We're talking 12 years... Sonic (and Pikachu, Pokemon's from 1995, right?) are too young too see how well the endure.
Sonic wasn't good enough to carry the Dreamcast. I like Sonic 2 on my GCN, but I wouldn't buy a system for Sonic.
Pikachu is cool and all, but after 7 years we don't know how well Pokemon will maintain its brand. It could be an endless franchise like Mario (who dates back to approx. 1983), or fizzle out.
Samus fizzled out after Super Metroid, and I'm pysched to see the Return. However, Star Fox, while newer than Samus by about 6 or 7 years, has appeared more recently.
I'm just nitpicking, I've had Nintendo and Sega systems since the Master System and NES, both companies make different but fun games.
Third Party games? They fill niches that the First Parties lack...
I have Gauntlet, fun to play with friends. It's a niche that Nintendo doesn't fill. I wouldn't buy a system for it, however.
Don't forget Donkey Kong, it's been an independant franchise (with 2-3 games/console) since the SNES...
Alex
I bought my GBA a few months ago to have something to do on the train commuting when I'm on a brain dead day. The link-up capacity really intrigued me.
:) ($50 - Sonic 2, $10 - link cable, $40 - Sonic Advanced)...
My friend got Sonic 2 for the GCN, and I got Sonic Advanced for the GBA (both games kick ass, BTW, and I have Sonic 2 as well now).
I figured, I really want to see the link-capability, and what's $100 for that...
It's really cool. Both games feature fun Sonic action (the GCN game is a decent transition of Sonic from 2D->3D, though not as good as Mario 64 was, and Sonic Advanced is fresh Sonic fun).
However, you can move Chao, the creatures from the minigame, between the systems. It sounds really dumb, but it works nicely. You get to play the game as normal, but as an added bonus you can to convert your accomplishments into little animals that you can compete with.
I really feel that RPGs will see the greatest benefit from the link-up, with Pokemon being an obvious example. You can train your Pokemon in your hand-held RPG, then compete with your friends on the TV instead of on the hand-helds.
In a more "adult" setting, I'd really like to see an "American" RPG (more character driven, not collections of cut-scenes). I mean, supposedly Camelot is releasing a Golden Sun game on the GCN that will let you bring your Golden Sun character into it, and other games could do it too.
I love Sonic, but part of the reason that the Sonic games dominate my gaming time is the link-up. I can play Sonic at home or on the road, it's Sonic everywhere.
In Final Fantasy... wow!
Alex
LEt's take the "average" IT position that would justify telecommuting. We're talking a $60k+ a year employee. After adding in payroll taxes, benefits, marginal costs of office space and equipment, etc., this employee costs the company approximately $90-$100k/year. We're talking over $8000/month.
In all honestly, most employers shouldn't freak that telecommuting costs $500/month. However, it IS reasonable to have the telecommuter's salary be less IF (and this is a BIG if) the costs of the connection is greater than the overhead of them being at the office.
If your employer really feels that $100-$300/mo for a business class DSL or $500 for a fractional T1 is too much money, you might want to crunch the numbers with them.
Alex