Implement a smart extension manager. A tool which knows about the available extensions, which understands what I use Firefox for and then helps me to find the extensions which make life easier for me.
It is bad PR for Microsoft and we are all exited about people now starting to install Firefox and Opera. But what in the world makes us believe Microsoft will just sit and watch?
Sooner or later MS will provide some kind of fix for the security holes. Then there will be a version of IE coming which has tabbed browsing and all the other niceties in Firefox and Opera. That new IE will enter the desktop conveniently through Windows Update. That day people will be happy that IE is safe and they will go back to using it. Just because they are used to it and they do not need to bother finding and installing some other strange program.
Today Firefox and Opera are attractive because they offer better features and improved security over IE. What makes us believe it will always be like that? And are features and security good enough to battle the desktop monopoly?
Folks, I think this story is not mainly about building yet another scooter. Look at what the hydrogen engineers in the automobile industry have come up with so far. Take Mercedes Benz and BMW, they have built comparively large cars and just a few years ago the smallest vehicle they could equip with a hydrogen engine were transporter size. Now this inventor shows (not just proposes!) he actually shows us what can be done. Sure, there are some problems which remain to be solved, but that scooter is no claim for perfection. You cannot ride that thing at 100mph on a motorway and you might not be able to ride for days without a refill, but that is not what is is about. Look at it, there is no spacey fuel tank which fills the entire trunk of your car and there is no refuelling which takes hours at specialised gas stations. That scooter is about technical possibilities and about making things happen instead of talking about what should be done in a better world.
I do use one of these (Trackman Marble FX, no wheels). It looked cool and curiosity finally made me buy it. Now I am using it every day at work, it is working flawlessly on my SGI. But I must admit the Trackman is not as cool as I thought I would be. There is nothing wrong with it, it feels great, works fine and so on, but it is not quite the kind of pointer I am still looking for. I have not used other trackballs to compare it to, but since I have pretty large hands, the ball could be twice the size to be comfortable.
It is hard to say whether you will like it. Try to find a store where you can play around with the Trackman for a while, maybe you can buy it with money-back guarantee.
I am still looking for "my" keyboard/mouse. Maybe a keyboard like the one on an IBM ThinkPad, where I can keep my hands resting and still reach the little red TrackPoint. And one day, I might finally go for the Datahand (http://www.datahand.com). The do not sell it in my country, so I cannot test it before I order, but some day I might just do it.
Oh, the funniest thing with the Trackman is to see my colleagues attempting to use it. Most of them try moving the whole thing on the desk. I no longer need xlock.
I am sitting in the same admin seat and after having read some of the comments here I got this idea:
With a virtually endless number of systems on the network one cannot ever possibly check each and everyone computer for security problems. It is way too time consuming even for a large IT-staff group and it will probably not be appreciated by people who feel you are sniffing around in their computers.
Firewalls and blocked routers are a nice idea, but Professor A. has a friend who must be able to telnet into box 123 and Professor B wants to... and and and - you will end up being forced to punch a million holes in the firewall, rendering it useless.
An own distribution is probably a too complex thing to go for. As soon as a distributor will update, some users will do so too. Your own distribution becomes old and you soon run into new problems.
So my idea (just an idea) is to create some kind of "ticket" which allows the users to connect their computer to your network. Assume that you write a program or a set of scripts which run a number of security checks on a computer, presenting the output in a code number, call it the ticket. This ticket is submitted to a server which grants the sending machine access to network - if the ticket shows that all tests were passed.
The idea is to limit your work to writing a - say monthly - version of the security check script. Let the program produce a ticket which is valid for a reasonable time span and place it as a complete, runable package on a public server. This way you will MAKE THE USERS CHECK THEIR OWN COMPUTERS. No valid ticket, no IP-number.
As I said it is a very raw idea, but I think it could work.
Slashdot Mirror
At technology review they have an article about a similar device.m o1204.asp?p=1
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/12/de
Implement a smart extension manager. A tool which knows about the available extensions, which understands what I use Firefox for and then helps me to find the extensions which make life easier for me.
It is bad PR for Microsoft and we are all exited about people now starting to install Firefox and Opera. But what in the world makes us believe Microsoft will just sit and watch?
Sooner or later MS will provide some kind of fix for the security holes. Then there will be a version of IE coming which has tabbed browsing and all the other niceties in Firefox and Opera. That new IE will enter the desktop conveniently through Windows Update. That day people will be happy that IE is safe and they will go back to using it. Just because they are used to it and they do not need to bother finding and installing some other strange program.
Today Firefox and Opera are attractive because they offer better features and improved security over IE. What makes us believe it will always be like that? And are features and security good enough to battle the desktop monopoly?
Folks, I think this story is not mainly about building yet another scooter. Look at what the hydrogen engineers in the automobile industry have come up with so far. Take Mercedes Benz and BMW, they have built comparively large cars and just a few years ago the smallest vehicle they could equip with a hydrogen engine were transporter size. Now this inventor shows (not just proposes!) he actually shows us what can be done. Sure, there are some problems which remain to be solved, but that scooter is no claim for perfection. You cannot ride that thing at 100mph on a motorway and you might not be able to ride for days without a refill, but that is not what is is about. Look at it, there is no spacey fuel tank which fills the entire trunk of your car and there is no refuelling which takes hours at specialised gas stations. That scooter is about technical possibilities and about making things happen instead of talking about what should be done in a better world.
I do use one of these (Trackman Marble FX, no wheels). It looked cool and curiosity finally made me buy it. Now I am using it every day at work, it is working flawlessly on my SGI.
But I must admit the Trackman is not as cool as I thought I would be. There is nothing wrong with it, it feels great, works fine and so on, but it is not quite the kind of pointer I am still looking for. I have not used other trackballs to compare it to, but since I have pretty large hands, the ball could be twice the size to be comfortable.
It is hard to say whether you will like it. Try to find a store where you can play around with the Trackman for a while, maybe you can buy it with money-back guarantee.
I am still looking for "my" keyboard/mouse. Maybe a keyboard like the one on an IBM ThinkPad, where I can keep my hands resting and still reach the little red TrackPoint. And one day, I might finally go for the Datahand (http://www.datahand.com). The do not sell it in my country, so I cannot test it before I order, but some day I might just do it.
Oh, the funniest thing with the Trackman is to see my colleagues attempting to use it. Most of them try moving the whole thing on the desk. I no longer need xlock.
Cheers,
Bibo
I am sitting in the same admin seat and after having read some of the comments here I got this idea:
... and and and - you will end up being forced to punch a million holes in the firewall, rendering it useless.
With a virtually endless number of systems on the network one cannot ever possibly check each and everyone computer for security problems. It is way too time consuming even for a large IT-staff group and it will probably not be appreciated by people who feel you are sniffing around in their computers.
Firewalls and blocked routers are a nice idea, but Professor A. has a friend who must be able to telnet into box 123 and Professor B wants to
An own distribution is probably a too complex thing to go for. As soon as a distributor will update, some users will do so too. Your own distribution becomes old and you soon run into new problems.
So my idea (just an idea) is to create some kind of "ticket" which allows the users to connect their computer to your network. Assume that you write a program or a set of scripts which run a number of security checks on a computer, presenting the output in a code number, call it the ticket. This ticket is submitted to a server which grants the sending machine access to network - if the ticket shows that all tests were passed.
The idea is to limit your work to writing a - say monthly - version of the security check script. Let the program produce a ticket which is valid for a reasonable time span and place it as a complete, runable package on a public server. This way you will MAKE THE USERS CHECK THEIR OWN COMPUTERS. No valid ticket, no IP-number.
As I said it is a very raw idea, but I think it could work.