The commercials, like the FBI warning are not part of the content. Think of it this way, Law & Order has commercials on TV. They aren't part of the program, but they pay the bills. When you buy it on DVD you don't get commercial breaks with commercials every so many minutes like you do with TV. In short, the commercials are not part of the content, and thus are perfectly acceptable to skip.
This isn't self use software. This is a pair of companies that take third party content, alter it, and then sell or rent it. This is not the case of someone like a parent deciding that they don't like a certain scene and cutting it out. From what I gather from the article, this is not software that is sold to the home market, this is commercial use software.
I used to do theater (lighting and set) and have had my name if a fair number of credits. Those credits at the end are pretty important to the people that are involved. To have someone take something I worked on, censor it, and then try to pass it off makes me sick. User choice is still there, if something offends you, don't see it! You have no right to go through life being unoffended.
I finally find myself opposed to something the EFF is doing and siding with the studios. It boils down to this, the editors are making software for the purpose of censoring, hiding, removing - whatever you want to call it, content. Since I stand firmly against censorship with very few exceptions, I find myself opposing this action by the EFF.
People make something, it ought to be presented to the public the way it was envisioned, and not the way people would like to pretend it was. Imagine if classics from Huckleberry Finn to the Bible had this happen in the name of political correctness. Oh wait they already have. If it's wrong to censor books or newspapers, than it's equally wrong to censor out the parts of movies we don't like. In short this boils down to revisionist history, something that I find abhorrant and morally destitute.
This has got to be one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard about in automotive engineering. First, this thing has a range of 300 feet. This range is so long as to be useless for rush hour traffic. In many metro areas you can't get 300 feet in front of you even if your driving an ambulance with light and sirens. Drivers are going to cut in front of you, and there is nothing you can do about it. The net result of this is two fold. First it desensitises the driver behind you to your brake lights. After someone has their brake lights on for 25 minutes straight, drivers behind them aren't going to know when he puts them on for real. They will become desensitised to his brake lights - this is a bad thing. The second thing this will do is cause a safety problem with the Honda itself. Since the car is riding it's own brakes, they are going to be much warmer after constant usage for 10 to minutes, and thus more prone to failure.
This could also encourage laziness in the part of the driver as he is conditioned not to brake until the car starts braking for him. Remember Pavlov's dog? Same premise works on humans as well. The worst thing about this though is that these vehicles will be driven on roads that see ice, freezing rain and snow conditions. Touching the brakes unexpectedly in these conditions can easily cause a vehicle to go out of control. This is nothing like driving on dry roads at all, and requires much more skill on the part of the driver. Since I live in Minnesota, a state renowned for it's winters and bad weather, this is not an idle concern. Vehicles with brake systems that engage without the driver pressing the brake pedal first should be banned from public roads for safety's sake. I am not referring to brake assist feature in some cars that helps push down the brake pedal when panic braking on behalf of the driver is detected. I say this all as someone who has been in a very severe accident where such a system in the vehicle behind me just might have prevented the accident (rear ended at freeway speed by full size truck).
It would seem to me to be noteworthy that they have acknowledged the immenint death of Unix. To quote:
Through contributing AIX source code to Linux and using UNIX methods to accelerate and improve Linux as a free operating system,
with the resulting destruction of UNIX
Since the article referenced is a SCO press release I find this noteworthy. Linux has made massive inroads in the server market, almost exclusively at the expense of Unix. Does anyone else see this as a sign that in a few years Linux will have replaced Unix in the server world? For IBM to switch from AIX to Linux would not be entirely out of the question since they have already set up (almost?) their entire line, from laptops to big iron to run Linux. With their license terminated, might they fold AIX and not look back?
I ask about the potentially imminent death of Unix in part because I am have been scheduled for some time to spend 6 months in college exclusively for Solaris, having just finished up Cisco. In short, I'm wondering if I'd be wasting my time and not an inconsiderable some in tuition by taking Solaris instead of focusing more on Linux on my own?
Why is this kind of thing still actively going on? The EFF should be patenting every kind of DRM and such similiar thing that they can think of. Beyond that, we should also be doing what we can. We need to deny these patents for these really bad business practices and DRM's to the companies that will abuse them.
Simple really, think of a way that MS or another company can screw you. Than all you need to do is get this patented. Once patented the EFF should have a fund to reimburse people for the cost of the patent. At which point the patent should be placed into an EFF trust dedicated to making sure that particular bad idea can't be used. Come on people, let's use their system against them instead of getting it used against us again. For not that much money we could head off a lot of DRM and other such madness before it does it's damage.
The less cooperation between the testing companies and the tested companies the better. The last thing this industry needs is to become like so many other industries where the test standards lose all merit because the testers and testee's are in bed togethor. Test results are only of merit of they are done completely independent of the manufacture during the entire test process.
Think of it this way, when's the last time you saw PC World roast a product that truely deserved it? How many review sites gave WinMe a thumbs up when it's widely viewed in the industry at MS's worst OS to date? We (the public) simply aren't being served if the test companies are cooperating with the companies their testing. Look if a testing company, review site or whatever other lab doesn't occasionaly come out and just say "this sucks" than you know they aren't credible. There's too much out there that sucks, and too few reviewers willing to let the public know before they waste their money.
It's the same reasoning that dictates why consumer's reports will buy their cars anonymously from dealers using third parties instead of getting "special" delivery directly from the manufacture. What we should really see with the behaviour were observing so far is an impetus to develop an open source test benchmark application. By doing this we would assure that the results can't be bought, just like has become common practice in so many other industries.
The requirement has nothing to do with the manufactures. Having worked for a vehicle manufacturer for a while on their registration systems I can tell you that any mechanized vehicle has to be registered with the Federal Government (through the manufactures records) when it is sold to a consumer. This is done for reasons varying from taxes to emissions to safety recalls to theft recovery for law enforcement. Local communities also like to know for their own registration and tax purposes and can have their own additional requirements.
With that covering why you have to register a vehicle, let me now explain why the manufactures haven't fought this particular bit of legislation. The manufactures like the law because it gives them an excuse to keep a close eye on rebates for sales. A common method of fraud by vehicle dealers is to sell a vehicle on a certain date, but not to register it with the manufacture for a date sometimes months afterwords. Since dealers know they will get rebates for each vehicle sold during a certain time period, they simply hold off on the registration until the rebate period comes up. The dealer than gets the factory to dealer rebates and the factory to customer rebates. If the customer even knows enough to ask they are simply told they are getting a little longer period on the warranty for "free". I worked on this computer systems for this, so I can assure that this kind of fraud is quite substantial.
Hint, if you've ever been asked not to date a vehicle sales purchase agreement, the dealer intends on collecting an additional refund, and quite possibly "your" refund. This is when they don't simply white out your agreement date and write in their own date. We busted one dealer for sending in some 60 to 70 of these in one month, all with obviously the same handwriting! (Think typical rebate of 2-3 grand).
I find this to be of interest. First, I can tell you (after probably reading 20,000+ credit reports over the years) that credit reports are frequently wrong. In fact, it's common for skiptracers to pull all three cbr's in order to try to get accurate information. I can also tell you that honest mix up's can occur for reasons such as common names, junior and senior, and transposed numbers. It is also possible (though less likely) for someone who doesn't make much money to have excellent credit.
In order to better appreciate things, consider that having good or bad credit is strictly incidental to your financial well being. Rembember that even Donald Trump filed bankruptcy, as a billionaire, and is still a billionaire. Think about it. Having also dealt with large balance accounts for a rather well known financial company (I was one of two people in the company authorized to do so) I can tell you that there are a great deal of well known celebrities, sports players, actors, politicians and what-not that have millions to spare and still have spotty credit. I can assure you that some of these people were quite well known for their performance level in their professional career. Simply put, you just can't fairly use credit to determine whether or not someone is stable or a good employee. Heck, even Alan Greenspan was once turned down for an American Express card while he was chairman of the Federal Reserve bank.
On this note though, I'd like to leave people with a thought about the credit check. It goes both ways. That's right, you can pull a companies credit report, and you don't need their permission. Simply go to Dunn & Bradstreet and request a credit report on your prospective employer. Remember that goverment agencies also have credit reports, and those can be checked. I would also encourage you to search the Securities and Exchange commision on your prospective employer for warning signs (not available on privately held companies). Remember how many employers have gone bankrupt like Enron and screwed over their employees in the process. When you are working for someone you are essentially giving that employer credit a week or two at a time until your paycheck arrives. This advice goes all the moreso for Independent contractors as they are considered business entities and are not covered by wage loss laws. I can also tell you from past experience that it can go over well to let a company know in their interview that you have looked at things like their SEC filings. It means that you do your research and tips them that you are also interviewing them - a sign of confidence in your abilities.
The following tells quicken it's registered. Just copy and past into a text file, rename as a.reg and merge with registry. Walaa, Quicken thinks it's registered. Did I just break the DMCA?
Well, how about open source application that are good enough to compete with proprietary software?
I can think of one off the top of my head. Gnucleus, a free open source peer to peer file sharing program. I have been using it for months and am quite satisfied with it. No spyware, no "permissions" to modify my computer, no worry about them selling out aka napster. My biggest complaint though, not enough people on the network. I think if most people who were on kazaa et al, were aware of Gnucleus and it it's advantages they'd switch over.
Now that I've given a good example of a better open source program, I'll concede the main point your trying to make, propietary software tends to work better for the masses. Regardless of the fact that it is often inherintly inferior, it has what the masses think they want, pretty gui, marketspeak (try looking at anti-virus software lately?), and a source for troubleshooting.
All things considered, I think some open source is maturing to the point where it could start to overtake closed source, especially with utilities. The question at this point is not whether or not it can be made, but whether or not it can be made to look like geek free normal software for the masses. Your right, most closed source software doesn't have much to worry about right now, the question is when will open source software start taking some of closed source software's marketing lessons to heart?
First, In a business environment. Your data safe for your media is most likely not intended to protect computer media. It is designed to protect things like papers. As a result, I have heard many horror stories of smoke damage ruining tapes, and heat damage ruining cdr's. What you need to do is to have a smaller safe inside of a larger safe. This provides an additional layer of protection for environmentally sensistive data retention methods.
Do your incremental backup at least once a day. Do a full backup once a week on two media. Keep one on site and the second offsite at a records retention service like iron mountain. Change out media at least once a year. I have seen sites that have been using the same tape backup tapes for years religously and have literally worn out their tapes. Make sure that you also backup your security keys for your data to a safe deposit box or that offsite data retention company. It is too easy for the key to be safely stored online on an admin station or server that gets burned in the fire.
Some companies that have very large enterprise data centers will even go so far as to have mirrored backup facilities. These companies effecticely have an entire redundant NOC that is at another physically seperate facility. Treat this much as you would your Internet servers in that you want to make sure that this facility has redundant internet and phone connectivity. Some firms that were wiped out by 9/11 had such facilities available in dedicated host sites and were able to seamlessly transition over within the day. The other firms quickly discovered that such space and facilities were taken by other WTC firms that beat them to the puch. This is by far the most expensive option there is, and is also the most survivable. For a company of sufficeint size though, even a single day down would easily exceed the millions this option can cost. Recommended only for very large operations.
Another option if you have a campus type facility is to lay underground redundant fiber between buildings. Have your redundant servers and tape backups there. This is very expensive if you have to dig up the ground. However once implemented this is probably one of the cheapest to maintain. Many uni's do this as a matter of course. They have enough data to make the occasional tape back up to offsite facilities impractical. This also allows for much higher speed operations that an internet backup. I have worked with (very large) banking facilities and techs from the various vegas casinos, and this practice is fairly widespread there.
I have also had a number of facilities that had mirroring in use and never realized that the primary disk had failed and that they had been living off their mirror for some time. So check your mirror every now and then to make sure it isn't running off backup. Also, if you have a raid array, make you have a hot swap/and/ a spare disc available. I have seen a nasty lightning storm take out one disk on an array, only to have the same storm take out another disk a few hours later right after the hotswap had just been put in (server room/was/ on ups and line filtering). Afterall if an environmental condition is sufficeint to take out one disk, it's usually sufficeint to take out or fatally damage another.
Last and most important. Test your backup! I can't tell you how many times I have worked with people that had backups that were worthless. I have probably referred at least one hundred facilities over the years to ontrack for data recovery when their tape backups, hard disks or raid facilities failed.
I know there are people out there like yourself. Without question, the people who are willing to help make a world of difference. Please understand that I have written a fair amount of technical materials for various employers over the years, thus personally I am hardly adverse to the idea of RTFM. I think one of the biggest problems, one that I know taco once talked about addressing with a book, is knowing/which/ manaul to read. In short, very good stable tools are out there, but how to know what to ask for? Many of the names (like grep or eth0) are logical for programmers, but don't make a lot of sense for those who aren't.
Without question I have seen people like you describe, those that come demanding answers without bothering to do any research. They are annoying, I won't dispute. Unfortunately, these impatient people talk to other people, and a/perception/ of an ivory tower is created. Right or wrong, people like the managers in my government contract job pay a lot of attention to perception. It's the perception that needs work, and this is not easy to change.
One of the things I have personally found frustrating is that there seems to be an assumption that the user will know what certain things are. In short, it's a matter of knowing what exactly it is that you need. A friend of mine is quite proficeint with linux, and it seems at time I have to use him as a translator. I'll tell him a problem, he tells me the appropriate *nix terminology, and I search online for the answers. Working on more common sense names would help immensely. I think this is the most common method of pointing someone in the right direction for *nix's.
I'm also not at all adverse to linux myself.
I have a mandrake box running duty as a samba file server and another flavor running duty as a firewall.
Complaining doesn't get you anywhere, I couldn't agree more. Unless, that is, someone posts a story to/. asking you to do exactly that:-) In which case I can bring up my complaints. Of note, this could well prove to be the most popular/. story yet - almost 3000 comments upon last check. Believe me, I like many of the concpets of *nix, that's why I'm going to school for it. Unfortunately, it's joe blow six pack that dictates the fortunes in the computer world, and it's joe six pack that needs appealed to.
Short list of the most useful things from my beginner linux perspective.
Translation manuals, the tools are out there, but I need someone to tell what their equivalent to in a windows world so that I know what to ask for.
Consistent interface option. No need to get rid of custom interfaces, but to make available a standard interface that could be brought up (doesn't need to be the only one) to administer the machine, that would be available on all linux flavors would be ungodly useful.
Naming. Many *nix commands are named for programming functionallity since they were designed as programmers tools. Coming up with more familiar names that would also execute the identical function would be useful. For example, grep could also be brought up under "search" or "find".
Actually, I consider this to be an important issue. I have played with trying Linux off and on since Red Hat 5.2 and inevitably give up every time after a short while. Part of the frustration is that I don't have anything consistent for interfaces. It's one of the things that MS screwed up with XP, they changed the interface enough that it can be a real pain in the but doing what you've always done. In short, don't discount the whole kde/gnome consistent interface thing. It is important for furthering adoption of Linux beyond a certain crowd that has already embraced it.
In short, I want to be able to "just use it". I want to go to a consistent place every single time and be able to enable a nic to use / not use DHCP regardless of flavor of linux I am on. That and the biggest thing that the linux community needs to do is have a serious attitude adjustment. The whole, holier than thou attitude and general unwillingness to help (with exceptions of course) have ruined it in many portions of society. I was working a very large gov contract position a few years back and when I asked why they didn't have linux in use (despite many of the workers privately using it), I was told bluntly, "because the community can't be bothered to step out of their white tower to help unless your a programmer". "The entire concept of anyone/other/ than a programmer administrating a machine has been lost on them". In short, I should not need to know "C" to admin a box. I am not, and have no interest in becoming a programmer, I simply desire to be an administrator.
In case your wondering if it's the whole CLI interface thing, no it isn't. I've been using computers since the TI80, have 5 years professional experience, and have absolutely no problem with the Cisco CLI. I'm also in school to pick up Solaris, Cisco, and Unix once Linux is finished. Thus I am hardly a newbie that is scared by the lack of a pretty interface. hope this helps.
As you said, you need certain kinds of snow in order to build an igloo. You simply can't use just any kind of snow to build an igloo - I covered this. The reason I suggested the ice igloo first (and covered snow second) was that this is more practical for most people, who are statistically far more likely to live somewhere where there is ice available than the proper kind of snow for building an igloo.
While a native can certainly build an igloo by themselves, slashdot's readership is overwhelmingly not native or trained in winter survival skills - a partner is a safety measure for those who haven't made one before. In other words, my post still stands on it's facts and merits. Whilst I am certainly not an Intuit native, I can assure you that the art of igloo building is hardly limited to the Arctic circle. I learned my skills in a Boy Scout winter survival training camp, as many others have.
Incidentally the camp was a joint facility used by the US Army for their winter survival training when there were no Boy Scouts around. They supplied the cold weather survival gear, Boy Scouts provided the facilities - camp Ootpik if that name rings a bell with any readers.
Ah, the joys of Boy Scouts, where one can learn how to build an igloo in Minnesota Winter Survival training camp.
You need a long saw / chainsaw and it helps to have an ice auger.
Drill a hole in the ice (at least 8" deep) with your auger - this is your starting point.
Use your long saw (they have speciality ice saws for this used by ice fishermen) to cut away from the hole. Make your cuts parallel from each other. Cut longways before crossways. Make your blocks about 8 inches cubed.
Once you have your first row cut, remove the ice with special tongs made for the purpose. Do not try to remove these by hand as you'll throw out your back and likely end up in your now open hole in the ice.
Work parallel from your hole towards shore, do not work towards the center of the water, and the ice can thin dramatically and quickly (especially over rivers with strong currents).
As a good safety guide, have someone else with you and a large ladder nearby if available.
Once you have enough ice blocks, you will want to choose a place to put them. As heavy as the ice blocks are, it may be tempting to build the igloo right next to where you removed them. This is a bad idea as the finished igloo will be quite heavy and could easily crash through the ice. Be careful to build this over stable flat terrain.
Arrange your first row of largest ice blocks in a circle. It doesn't need to big. The smaller it is inside, the better it will preserve warmth. Once you have the first row done, pack the crevices with snow. Put snow on top of the first row as a sort of mortar. Remember to put a hole for getting in and out!
Add one layer at a time, adding in a small opening for crawling in and out of. The opening needs to in the form of an arch, and no taller or wider than about 1 1/2 feet at most. Just barely big enough to crawl through is good.
As you build up, you can start to discover that you are bring the ice blocks towards the middle. This is the tricky part to get right. Have one person on the outside, and one in. The snow that you have been using a mortar can help or hinder here, depending on where you got it. Try to find stick snow
Cap the igloo. For your first igloo, this can be pretty tricky. If you have built it tightly, it will lean in on itself and support itself. The top piece needs to be a pressure fit piece. For this, you'll want to start with a bigger piece and cut it down to size.
You can also build an igloo out of snow, the process is much the same, but not all snow can be used for this.
Finally, pack all the crevices with snow. This will help preserve warmth and keep the wind out. All things considered these things are actually pretty comfortable for winter camping.
Remember, your just building a big Roman arch, get help, and you'll be fine. It helps to bring ice fishing gear to go ice fishing when your done:)
At which point I will learn my lesson about forgetting passwords. A lesson hard taught is not easily forgotten. Remember when the palm factory debug set was found to be able to bypass the security on any palm a year or so back. Poof! Security gone, that's why you can't have security by obscurity. If you lose your password you lose your data and will know better than to do it again. Besides, you ought to have had a backup anyways.
I think the most important part of the article is where the point is brought up about per Kb download cost. If you want people to buy this and the related service as a broadband app, you have to make that it doesn't end up costing more to download something than it would to buy it. This would kill wireless broadband faster than it could be deployed.
Charging a flat fee would probably not work because of the 2% that would use 98% of the available bandwidth. However simply charging per minute would not penalize the userbase for using this for the intended use. This would also address the points of the article about being able to get the multimedia that your buying this for. In short, the lesson for 3G providers, don't kill the market that your trying to create.
Praise Murphy for he has saved me from having my cable modem taken over by AOL or Microsoft! All give praise to Murphy, for he has not forsaken us. Praise may also be given that I don't have to look at satelite service.
Have ideas & professional experience
on
Home Server Rooms?
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· Score: 5, Informative
First, let me start with where I have experience on such things. I got my professional entry into the computer world by working with specialized computerized HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) equipment. The company I worked at was quite large (Fortune 100 company), and had facilities all across the US. All of these are computer controlled for environmental concerns. In particular, the computer rooms had the highest priority of anything. I was responsible for over 600 server rooms and worked with HVAC, electricians, code inspectors and fire marshalls on a daily basis. I dealt with practical problems of the design and support of such rooms for a living. Thus, I hopefully know what I'm talking about.
There are two primary issues that you need to be concerned about - heat removal and electricity. Both of these should be designed into consideration for the room to begin with. Since your building the house, you have an opportunity to deal with these properly to begin with. This should save you thousands of dollars vs trying to hodgepodge things together after the fact.
The first consideration is to make sure that you have an ample supply of electricity to the room. This involves more than just having a bunch of outlets all over the place. The first thing that you MUST do is to have adequate gauge electrical wire running to the room from your circuit box (make sure circuit breakers are adeqaute as well). If this isn't adequate, you won't pass inspection. You can't use the same gauge wire that you can get away in the rest of the house. You need a lower number gauge, and more of it. The primary consequences of failing to do this will be an inability to run everything at once without tripping a circuit breaker. I recommend having at least two dedicated runs of wire to the server room. Make sure their breakers are labeled and control nothing else. Also have a dedicated smoke detector hardwired for this room (the insurance company will like / require this and it will help for your safety as well.
There are also code issues here. If the wiring is inadequate and your house burns down from this (circuit breakers can fail to trip) your insurance company won't pay you a dime. If the electrician tells you not to worry about this, things will be fine, tell him to do it anyways. Follow up on this by physically verifying that the gauge is different. Remember the electrician who does your house is judging by the standard of what the typical urban household needs. It is important to remind him that this is not the typical urban house. If done during construction the cost will be minimal, if done after construction (drywall) the cost will be thousands of dollars. Also consider having one or two 220 volt outlets installed during this time. If you need to install a room air conditioner for your server room you'll need this. You'll also likely want a single heavy duty UPS for all of the equipment vs several smaller ones. Such a UPS will also require 220 Volt power. All of this will probably not add more than $200 if it is done before drywall goes up and while the electrician is on site anyways. One other thought here, make sure said wire gauge differences are documented and signed by the electrician, and then videotape everything before the drywall goes up.
Now that you have power in place you'll want to examine heat removal issues. If you put this in a basement, it will naturally be about 10f cooler. This can be used to your advantage. Keeping this room in the center of the house will also help keep it cooler / warmer for less costs. Keep in mind that the standard home AC unit will not be sufficient to cool such a room. Talk to the HVAC contractor and start by getting dedicated ducts that go to this room only (not a feed from another duct). Tell them what the room while be used for and they can help out, it's something that is pretty common for any contractor that also does commercial work (avoid HVAC contractors that only do residential work like the plague). It will also help if the room has a higher than average ceiling (give the heat somewhere to go) and a ceiling fan to help pull hot air up. You also want to keep the run (length of duct from AC unit to room) as absolutely short as you can get away with.
Consider getting a purpose built building interior air conditioner for the room. They cost about a grand, but don't have to have dedicated ductwork available to them. They are also far cheaper than failed components if you get a sudden hot day that overwhelms your air conditioner. Remember that standard air conditioners are sized to handle not the hottest days in your locality but a point that is 85% - 90% equivalent to the hottest days (there are good reasons for this, but I'd be getting off topic). In other words, don't count on the home AC to handle this room. It's not just a matter of being comfortable, it's a matter of avoiding replacing failed hardware that got too warm. This always ends up costing more than it would cost to do it right in the first place.
Now you can deal with the smaller issues. Make sure you have lots and lots of 4 bang outlets. Also make sure that you have indirect lighting in the room. It may be worthwhile to install some foam for noise absorption while your at it. It's not very expensive and it can make a big difference. You also want to make sure the floor is wood, tile or concrete. Avoid carpet that can create static electricity. Make sure you have your wiring coming to the room through PVC or steel conduit. Make sure the access point isn't going to be blocked. From here I would advise to go ahead and buy a rack. It will save lots of space, the standard is there for many things, and it will make things look much nicer. You can also set up a proper patch panel this way.
Just my 2 and a half cents worth, would add more but this is long as is.
I hate those things, let them die a slow painful death at the bottom of the Atlantic. Use them to dredge a new shipping channel. Teach explosives training to new recruits in the Army with them. Use them as obstacles in automotive crash tests. But whatever you do make sure that some back-assed takes forever to upgrade corporation (like the one I work for) cant find them to use them.
As for solutions, you only have a few practical solutions. Certain high end tape jukebox silos (StorageTek) etc can do this. You could also record to DVD with similiar jukebox silos from Dictaphone. I am guessing that there is going to a centralized processing and collection point.
From there you are probably looking for long term storage at an off site location that is accessable from the central location. This is where you can enter the real problem. Jukebox silos are large, and take up a lot of prime (expensive) real estate that you probably don't want occupied for long term storage. This means you need a way to archive the data but still search it from a centralized location (what happened at door #117 on Sept 23rd 2001). This means that you have to have fibre to an offsite location where additional jukeboxes are stored.
Since the speed that you would need makes telco solutions ungodly expensive you make need to lay your own fibre underground to an offsite storage center. You couldn't get the speed you need through solutions like microwave. This also rules out solutions like iron mountain. Make sure your data backbone for this system is completely seperated from normal building IT traffic. Best yet, put in an air gap for this system from the normal IT system, good for security too.
Assuming you lay your own fibre (or already have it as many large financial institutions do), than you would simply add in additional jukeboxes at the other end of the fibre. I also have to assume that any such fibre would have a redundant connection no less than six feet parallel from the primarly line (Norwest Airlines learned that lesson the hard way when their Sonet ring lost an argument to a backhoe - cutting the redundant fibre line right along with the primary).
Storage media that could suit your needs would include tape and dvd solutions. CDr's would be too impractical with the standards you dictated that must be met. Fibre hard drive solutions are a possibility but would be very expensive now, getting cheaper as hard drive capacities grew (assuming the number of cameras and data collection rates stay the same), so might be more favorable from a long term cost analysis than a short term one. Since you want to keep data "forever" this would weigh in more than normal.
Good post, interesting dilemma, I would ignore those morons who complain that this is a hardware issue and not a software issue.
Now, I have some idea of what your talking about. Before choosing my current job I was interviewing with Dictaphone as a support tech for their systems. I have also worked with a lot of techs from Vegas (and spent a bit of time working out there). I have also worked in security, including a nice high profile skyscraper that housed a very large banks headquarters. Their system comprised over 600 cameras, with 95% of those pinhole. So I might have some idea of what I'm talking about.
I think several assumptions can be made from your other posts. First, you are going to run this over a Gigabit backplane, probably fibre. Second, the cameras are sending their signal back to a central (or one of several sub-central locations) location. From here you want to archive the data. I am assuming that the problem of getting the digital camera feed from the camera to where the data is processed is already solved. Your probably wanting to convert an existing tape system over to a digital format.
Since this isn't a gov job there are only a few customers it could be. Most skyscrapers don't require this kind of coverage, with a very few notable exceptions. Even so, they typically only archive data to 90 days, 1 year or three years depending on the location being filmed.
It can also be assumed that since you want to record everything, that you don't want motion activated systems and with your frame rate of 30 FPS you are looking for quick subtle movements that would be easily missed with a standard security camera system (filming once every so many seconds). This requirement rules out something like an airport, as they would not need that speed. This leads me to believe you are working for a large casino since they like to keep their data a nice long time (lawsuits etc), and they would need a frame rate of 30 fps for sleight of hand issues and the higher resolution that you listed. Regardless, even if that is the case, there is nothing wrong with submitting an ask slashdot article about your needs.
Slashdot Mirror
The commercials, like the FBI warning are not part of the content. Think of it this way, Law & Order has commercials on TV. They aren't part of the program, but they pay the bills. When you buy it on DVD you don't get commercial breaks with commercials every so many minutes like you do with TV. In short, the commercials are not part of the content, and thus are perfectly acceptable to skip.
This isn't self use software. This is a pair of companies that take third party content, alter it, and then sell or rent it. This is not the case of someone like a parent deciding that they don't like a certain scene and cutting it out. From what I gather from the article, this is not software that is sold to the home market, this is commercial use software.
I used to do theater (lighting and set) and have had my name if a fair number of credits. Those credits at the end are pretty important to the people that are involved. To have someone take something I worked on, censor it, and then try to pass it off makes me sick. User choice is still there, if something offends you, don't see it! You have no right to go through life being unoffended.
People make something, it ought to be presented to the public the way it was envisioned, and not the way people would like to pretend it was. Imagine if classics from Huckleberry Finn to the Bible had this happen in the name of political correctness. Oh wait they already have. If it's wrong to censor books or newspapers, than it's equally wrong to censor out the parts of movies we don't like. In short this boils down to revisionist history, something that I find abhorrant and morally destitute.
Now waiting for icebergs in hell.
This could also encourage laziness in the part of the driver as he is conditioned not to brake until the car starts braking for him. Remember Pavlov's dog? Same premise works on humans as well. The worst thing about this though is that these vehicles will be driven on roads that see ice, freezing rain and snow conditions. Touching the brakes unexpectedly in these conditions can easily cause a vehicle to go out of control. This is nothing like driving on dry roads at all, and requires much more skill on the part of the driver. Since I live in Minnesota, a state renowned for it's winters and bad weather, this is not an idle concern. Vehicles with brake systems that engage without the driver pressing the brake pedal first should be banned from public roads for safety's sake. I am not referring to brake assist feature in some cars that helps push down the brake pedal when panic braking on behalf of the driver is detected. I say this all as someone who has been in a very severe accident where such a system in the vehicle behind me just might have prevented the accident (rear ended at freeway speed by full size truck).
Since the article referenced is a SCO press release I find this noteworthy. Linux has made massive inroads in the server market, almost exclusively at the expense of Unix. Does anyone else see this as a sign that in a few years Linux will have replaced Unix in the server world? For IBM to switch from AIX to Linux would not be entirely out of the question since they have already set up (almost?) their entire line, from laptops to big iron to run Linux. With their license terminated, might they fold AIX and not look back?
I ask about the potentially imminent death of Unix in part because I am have been scheduled for some time to spend 6 months in college exclusively for Solaris, having just finished up Cisco. In short, I'm wondering if I'd be wasting my time and not an inconsiderable some in tuition by taking Solaris instead of focusing more on Linux on my own?
Simple really, think of a way that MS or another company can screw you. Than all you need to do is get this patented. Once patented the EFF should have a fund to reimburse people for the cost of the patent. At which point the patent should be placed into an EFF trust dedicated to making sure that particular bad idea can't be used. Come on people, let's use their system against them instead of getting it used against us again. For not that much money we could head off a lot of DRM and other such madness before it does it's damage.
Think of it this way, when's the last time you saw PC World roast a product that truely deserved it? How many review sites gave WinMe a thumbs up when it's widely viewed in the industry at MS's worst OS to date? We (the public) simply aren't being served if the test companies are cooperating with the companies their testing. Look if a testing company, review site or whatever other lab doesn't occasionaly come out and just say "this sucks" than you know they aren't credible. There's too much out there that sucks, and too few reviewers willing to let the public know before they waste their money.
It's the same reasoning that dictates why consumer's reports will buy their cars anonymously from dealers using third parties instead of getting "special" delivery directly from the manufacture. What we should really see with the behaviour were observing so far is an impetus to develop an open source test benchmark application. By doing this we would assure that the results can't be bought, just like has become common practice in so many other industries.
With that covering why you have to register a vehicle, let me now explain why the manufactures haven't fought this particular bit of legislation. The manufactures like the law because it gives them an excuse to keep a close eye on rebates for sales. A common method of fraud by vehicle dealers is to sell a vehicle on a certain date, but not to register it with the manufacture for a date sometimes months afterwords. Since dealers know they will get rebates for each vehicle sold during a certain time period, they simply hold off on the registration until the rebate period comes up. The dealer than gets the factory to dealer rebates and the factory to customer rebates. If the customer even knows enough to ask they are simply told they are getting a little longer period on the warranty for "free". I worked on this computer systems for this, so I can assure that this kind of fraud is quite substantial.
Hint, if you've ever been asked not to date a vehicle sales purchase agreement, the dealer intends on collecting an additional refund, and quite possibly "your" refund. This is when they don't simply white out your agreement date and write in their own date. We busted one dealer for sending in some 60 to 70 of these in one month, all with obviously the same handwriting! (Think typical rebate of 2-3 grand).
In order to better appreciate things, consider that having good or bad credit is strictly incidental to your financial well being. Rembember that even Donald Trump filed bankruptcy, as a billionaire, and is still a billionaire. Think about it. Having also dealt with large balance accounts for a rather well known financial company (I was one of two people in the company authorized to do so) I can tell you that there are a great deal of well known celebrities, sports players, actors, politicians and what-not that have millions to spare and still have spotty credit. I can assure you that some of these people were quite well known for their performance level in their professional career. Simply put, you just can't fairly use credit to determine whether or not someone is stable or a good employee. Heck, even Alan Greenspan was once turned down for an American Express card while he was chairman of the Federal Reserve bank.
On this note though, I'd like to leave people with a thought about the credit check. It goes both ways. That's right, you can pull a companies credit report, and you don't need their permission. Simply go to Dunn & Bradstreet and request a credit report on your prospective employer. Remember that goverment agencies also have credit reports, and those can be checked. I would also encourage you to search the Securities and Exchange commision on your prospective employer for warning signs (not available on privately held companies). Remember how many employers have gone bankrupt like Enron and screwed over their employees in the process. When you are working for someone you are essentially giving that employer credit a week or two at a time until your paycheck arrives. This advice goes all the moreso for Independent contractors as they are considered business entities and are not covered by wage loss laws. I can also tell you from past experience that it can go over well to let a company know in their interview that you have looked at things like their SEC filings. It means that you do your research and tips them that you are also interviewing them - a sign of confidence in your abilities.
For other than XP:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intuit\QAgent\Guid
"AppID"
"AppName"="Quicken for Windows"
"AppVer"="11.0.0.0"
"Enable"="Yes"
"M
"SubAppID"="2"
For Windows XP"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{4E2B30D0-E0A2-11D2-
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{4E2
@="Quicken 1.0 Type Library"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{4E2B30D0-E0
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLi
@="C:\\PROGRA~1\\Qu
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{4E2
@="1"
[HKEY_CLASSES_
@="C:\\PROGRA~1\\Qu
Now that I've given a good example of a better open source program, I'll concede the main point your trying to make, propietary software tends to work better for the masses. Regardless of the fact that it is often inherintly inferior, it has what the masses think they want, pretty gui, marketspeak (try looking at anti-virus software lately?), and a source for troubleshooting.
All things considered, I think some open source is maturing to the point where it could start to overtake closed source, especially with utilities. The question at this point is not whether or not it can be made, but whether or not it can be made to look like geek free normal software for the masses. Your right, most closed source software doesn't have much to worry about right now, the question is when will open source software start taking some of closed source software's marketing lessons to heart?
Do your incremental backup at least once a day. Do a full backup once a week on two media. Keep one on site and the second offsite at a records retention service like iron mountain. Change out media at least once a year. I have seen sites that have been using the same tape backup tapes for years religously and have literally worn out their tapes. Make sure that you also backup your security keys for your data to a safe deposit box or that offsite data retention company. It is too easy for the key to be safely stored online on an admin station or server that gets burned in the fire.
Some companies that have very large enterprise data centers will even go so far as to have mirrored backup facilities. These companies effecticely have an entire redundant NOC that is at another physically seperate facility. Treat this much as you would your Internet servers in that you want to make sure that this facility has redundant internet and phone connectivity. Some firms that were wiped out by 9/11 had such facilities available in dedicated host sites and were able to seamlessly transition over within the day. The other firms quickly discovered that such space and facilities were taken by other WTC firms that beat them to the puch. This is by far the most expensive option there is, and is also the most survivable. For a company of sufficeint size though, even a single day down would easily exceed the millions this option can cost. Recommended only for very large operations.
Another option if you have a campus type facility is to lay underground redundant fiber between buildings. Have your redundant servers and tape backups there. This is very expensive if you have to dig up the ground. However once implemented this is probably one of the cheapest to maintain. Many uni's do this as a matter of course. They have enough data to make the occasional tape back up to offsite facilities impractical. This also allows for much higher speed operations that an internet backup. I have worked with (very large) banking facilities and techs from the various vegas casinos, and this practice is fairly widespread there.
I have also had a number of facilities that had mirroring in use and never realized that the primary disk had failed and that they had been living off their mirror for some time. So check your mirror every now and then to make sure it isn't running off backup. Also, if you have a raid array, make you have a hot swap
Last and most important. Test your backup! I can't tell you how many times I have worked with people that had backups that were worthless. I have probably referred at least one hundred facilities over the years to ontrack for data recovery when their tape backups, hard disks or raid facilities failed.
Without question I have seen people like you describe, those that come demanding answers without bothering to do any research. They are annoying, I won't dispute. Unfortunately, these impatient people talk to other people, and a /perception/ of an ivory tower is created. Right or wrong, people like the managers in my government contract job pay a lot of attention to perception. It's the perception that needs work, and this is not easy to change.
One of the things I have personally found frustrating is that there seems to be an assumption that the user will know what certain things are. In short, it's a matter of knowing what exactly it is that you need. A friend of mine is quite proficeint with linux, and it seems at time I have to use him as a translator. I'll tell him a problem, he tells me the appropriate *nix terminology, and I search online for the answers. Working on more common sense names would help immensely. I think this is the most common method of pointing someone in the right direction for *nix's.
I'm also not at all adverse to linux myself. I have a mandrake box running duty as a samba file server and another flavor running duty as a firewall.
Complaining doesn't get you anywhere, I couldn't agree more. Unless, that is, someone posts a story to /. asking you to do exactly that :-) In which case I can bring up my complaints. Of note, this could well prove to be the most popular /. story yet - almost 3000 comments upon last check. Believe me, I like many of the concpets of *nix, that's why I'm going to school for it. Unfortunately, it's joe blow six pack that dictates the fortunes in the computer world, and it's joe six pack that needs appealed to.
Short list of the most useful things from my beginner linux perspective.
Translation manuals, the tools are out there, but I need someone to tell what their equivalent to in a windows world so that I know what to ask for.
Consistent interface option. No need to get rid of custom interfaces, but to make available a standard interface that could be brought up (doesn't need to be the only one) to administer the machine, that would be available on all linux flavors would be ungodly useful.
Naming. Many *nix commands are named for programming functionallity since they were designed as programmers tools. Coming up with more familiar names that would also execute the identical function would be useful. For example, grep could also be brought up under "search" or "find".
In short, I want to be able to "just use it". I want to go to a consistent place every single time and be able to enable a nic to use / not use DHCP regardless of flavor of linux I am on. That and the biggest thing that the linux community needs to do is have a serious attitude adjustment. The whole, holier than thou attitude and general unwillingness to help (with exceptions of course) have ruined it in many portions of society. I was working a very large gov contract position a few years back and when I asked why they didn't have linux in use (despite many of the workers privately using it), I was told bluntly, "because the community can't be bothered to step out of their white tower to help unless your a programmer". "The entire concept of anyone
In case your wondering if it's the whole CLI interface thing, no it isn't. I've been using computers since the TI80, have 5 years professional experience, and have absolutely no problem with the Cisco CLI. I'm also in school to pick up Solaris, Cisco, and Unix once Linux is finished. Thus I am hardly a newbie that is scared by the lack of a pretty interface. hope this helps.
While a native can certainly build an igloo by themselves, slashdot's readership is overwhelmingly not native or trained in winter survival skills - a partner is a safety measure for those who haven't made one before. In other words, my post still stands on it's facts and merits. Whilst I am certainly not an Intuit native, I can assure you that the art of igloo building is hardly limited to the Arctic circle. I learned my skills in a Boy Scout winter survival training camp, as many others have.
Incidentally the camp was a joint facility used by the US Army for their winter survival training when there were no Boy Scouts around. They supplied the cold weather survival gear, Boy Scouts provided the facilities - camp Ootpik if that name rings a bell with any readers.
You need a long saw / chainsaw and it helps to have an ice auger.
Drill a hole in the ice (at least 8" deep) with your auger - this is your starting point.
Use your long saw (they have speciality ice saws for this used by ice fishermen) to cut away from the hole. Make your cuts parallel from each other. Cut longways before crossways. Make your blocks about 8 inches cubed.
Once you have your first row cut, remove the ice with special tongs made for the purpose. Do not try to remove these by hand as you'll throw out your back and likely end up in your now open hole in the ice.
Work parallel from your hole towards shore, do not work towards the center of the water, and the ice can thin dramatically and quickly (especially over rivers with strong currents).
As a good safety guide, have someone else with you and a large ladder nearby if available.
Once you have enough ice blocks, you will want to choose a place to put them. As heavy as the ice blocks are, it may be tempting to build the igloo right next to where you removed them. This is a bad idea as the finished igloo will be quite heavy and could easily crash through the ice. Be careful to build this over stable flat terrain.
Arrange your first row of largest ice blocks in a circle. It doesn't need to big. The smaller it is inside, the better it will preserve warmth. Once you have the first row done, pack the crevices with snow. Put snow on top of the first row as a sort of mortar. Remember to put a hole for getting in and out!
Add one layer at a time, adding in a small opening for crawling in and out of. The opening needs to in the form of an arch, and no taller or wider than about 1 1/2 feet at most. Just barely big enough to crawl through is good.
As you build up, you can start to discover that you are bring the ice blocks towards the middle. This is the tricky part to get right. Have one person on the outside, and one in. The snow that you have been using a mortar can help or hinder here, depending on where you got it. Try to find stick snow
Cap the igloo. For your first igloo, this can be pretty tricky. If you have built it tightly, it will lean in on itself and support itself. The top piece needs to be a pressure fit piece. For this, you'll want to start with a bigger piece and cut it down to size.
You can also build an igloo out of snow, the process is much the same, but not all snow can be used for this.
Finally, pack all the crevices with snow. This will help preserve warmth and keep the wind out. All things considered these things are actually pretty comfortable for winter camping.
Remember, your just building a big Roman arch, get help, and you'll be fine. It helps to bring ice fishing gear to go ice fishing when your done:)
At which point I will learn my lesson about forgetting passwords. A lesson hard taught is not easily forgotten. Remember when the palm factory debug set was found to be able to bypass the security on any palm a year or so back. Poof! Security gone, that's why you can't have security by obscurity. If you lose your password you lose your data and will know better than to do it again. Besides, you ought to have had a backup anyways.
Work as a cell phone
Wireless Internet / Email access
Simple database to track lists
Encrypted data vault for PIN's
Synchronize data with computer
USB 2.0 port
Smart Memory port that will use generic SmartMedia
How about a PCMCIA port?
Infrared
Security feature that can't be bypassed with factory tools
A longer stylus. Have two pieces that screw togethor and it would fit
A belt clip, I don't always have a coat to put it in
A vibrate feature for alarms and incoming calls
Color! It's not a grayscale world
Headphone jack for MP3's.
Charging a flat fee would probably not work because of the 2% that would use 98% of the available bandwidth. However simply charging per minute would not penalize the userbase for using this for the intended use. This would also address the points of the article about being able to get the multimedia that your buying this for. In short, the lesson for 3G providers, don't kill the market that your trying to create.
Praise Murphy for he has saved me from having my cable modem taken over by AOL or Microsoft! All give praise to Murphy, for he has not forsaken us. Praise may also be given that I don't have to look at satelite service.
There are two primary issues that you need to be concerned about - heat removal and electricity. Both of these should be designed into consideration for the room to begin with. Since your building the house, you have an opportunity to deal with these properly to begin with. This should save you thousands of dollars vs trying to hodgepodge things together after the fact.
The first consideration is to make sure that you have an ample supply of electricity to the room. This involves more than just having a bunch of outlets all over the place. The first thing that you MUST do is to have adequate gauge electrical wire running to the room from your circuit box (make sure circuit breakers are adeqaute as well). If this isn't adequate, you won't pass inspection. You can't use the same gauge wire that you can get away in the rest of the house. You need a lower number gauge, and more of it. The primary consequences of failing to do this will be an inability to run everything at once without tripping a circuit breaker. I recommend having at least two dedicated runs of wire to the server room. Make sure their breakers are labeled and control nothing else. Also have a dedicated smoke detector hardwired for this room (the insurance company will like / require this and it will help for your safety as well.
There are also code issues here. If the wiring is inadequate and your house burns down from this (circuit breakers can fail to trip) your insurance company won't pay you a dime. If the electrician tells you not to worry about this, things will be fine, tell him to do it anyways. Follow up on this by physically verifying that the gauge is different. Remember the electrician who does your house is judging by the standard of what the typical urban household needs. It is important to remind him that this is not the typical urban house. If done during construction the cost will be minimal, if done after construction (drywall) the cost will be thousands of dollars. Also consider having one or two 220 volt outlets installed during this time. If you need to install a room air conditioner for your server room you'll need this. You'll also likely want a single heavy duty UPS for all of the equipment vs several smaller ones. Such a UPS will also require 220 Volt power. All of this will probably not add more than $200 if it is done before drywall goes up and while the electrician is on site anyways. One other thought here, make sure said wire gauge differences are documented and signed by the electrician, and then videotape everything before the drywall goes up.
Now that you have power in place you'll want to examine heat removal issues. If you put this in a basement, it will naturally be about 10f cooler. This can be used to your advantage. Keeping this room in the center of the house will also help keep it cooler / warmer for less costs. Keep in mind that the standard home AC unit will not be sufficient to cool such a room. Talk to the HVAC contractor and start by getting dedicated ducts that go to this room only (not a feed from another duct). Tell them what the room while be used for and they can help out, it's something that is pretty common for any contractor that also does commercial work (avoid HVAC contractors that only do residential work like the plague). It will also help if the room has a higher than average ceiling (give the heat somewhere to go) and a ceiling fan to help pull hot air up. You also want to keep the run (length of duct from AC unit to room) as absolutely short as you can get away with.
Consider getting a purpose built building interior air conditioner for the room. They cost about a grand, but don't have to have dedicated ductwork available to them. They are also far cheaper than failed components if you get a sudden hot day that overwhelms your air conditioner. Remember that standard air conditioners are sized to handle not the hottest days in your locality but a point that is 85% - 90% equivalent to the hottest days (there are good reasons for this, but I'd be getting off topic). In other words, don't count on the home AC to handle this room. It's not just a matter of being comfortable, it's a matter of avoiding replacing failed hardware that got too warm. This always ends up costing more than it would cost to do it right in the first place.
Now you can deal with the smaller issues. Make sure you have lots and lots of 4 bang outlets. Also make sure that you have indirect lighting in the room. It may be worthwhile to install some foam for noise absorption while your at it. It's not very expensive and it can make a big difference. You also want to make sure the floor is wood, tile or concrete. Avoid carpet that can create static electricity. Make sure you have your wiring coming to the room through PVC or steel conduit. Make sure the access point isn't going to be blocked. From here I would advise to go ahead and buy a rack. It will save lots of space, the standard is there for many things, and it will make things look much nicer. You can also set up a proper patch panel this way.
Just my 2 and a half cents worth, would add more but this is long as is.
I hate those things, let them die a slow painful death at the bottom of the Atlantic. Use them to dredge a new shipping channel. Teach explosives training to new recruits in the Army with them. Use them as obstacles in automotive crash tests. But whatever you do make sure that some back-assed takes forever to upgrade corporation (like the one I work for) cant find them to use them.
Plato?
As for solutions, you only have a few practical solutions. Certain high end tape jukebox silos (StorageTek) etc can do this. You could also record to DVD with similiar jukebox silos from Dictaphone. I am guessing that there is going to a centralized processing and collection point.
From there you are probably looking for long term storage at an off site location that is accessable from the central location. This is where you can enter the real problem. Jukebox silos are large, and take up a lot of prime (expensive) real estate that you probably don't want occupied for long term storage. This means you need a way to archive the data but still search it from a centralized location (what happened at door #117 on Sept 23rd 2001). This means that you have to have fibre to an offsite location where additional jukeboxes are stored.
Since the speed that you would need makes telco solutions ungodly expensive you make need to lay your own fibre underground to an offsite storage center. You couldn't get the speed you need through solutions like microwave. This also rules out solutions like iron mountain. Make sure your data backbone for this system is completely seperated from normal building IT traffic. Best yet, put in an air gap for this system from the normal IT system, good for security too.
Assuming you lay your own fibre (or already have it as many large financial institutions do), than you would simply add in additional jukeboxes at the other end of the fibre. I also have to assume that any such fibre would have a redundant connection no less than six feet parallel from the primarly line (Norwest Airlines learned that lesson the hard way when their Sonet ring lost an argument to a backhoe - cutting the redundant fibre line right along with the primary).
Storage media that could suit your needs would include tape and dvd solutions. CDr's would be too impractical with the standards you dictated that must be met. Fibre hard drive solutions are a possibility but would be very expensive now, getting cheaper as hard drive capacities grew (assuming the number of cameras and data collection rates stay the same), so might be more favorable from a long term cost analysis than a short term one. Since you want to keep data "forever" this would weigh in more than normal.
Hope this helps
Now, I have some idea of what your talking about. Before choosing my current job I was interviewing with Dictaphone as a support tech for their systems. I have also worked with a lot of techs from Vegas (and spent a bit of time working out there). I have also worked in security, including a nice high profile skyscraper that housed a very large banks headquarters. Their system comprised over 600 cameras, with 95% of those pinhole. So I might have some idea of what I'm talking about.
I think several assumptions can be made from your other posts. First, you are going to run this over a Gigabit backplane, probably fibre. Second, the cameras are sending their signal back to a central (or one of several sub-central locations) location. From here you want to archive the data. I am assuming that the problem of getting the digital camera feed from the camera to where the data is processed is already solved. Your probably wanting to convert an existing tape system over to a digital format.
Since this isn't a gov job there are only a few customers it could be. Most skyscrapers don't require this kind of coverage, with a very few notable exceptions. Even so, they typically only archive data to 90 days, 1 year or three years depending on the location being filmed.
It can also be assumed that since you want to record everything, that you don't want motion activated systems and with your frame rate of 30 FPS you are looking for quick subtle movements that would be easily missed with a standard security camera system (filming once every so many seconds). This requirement rules out something like an airport, as they would not need that speed. This leads me to believe you are working for a large casino since they like to keep their data a nice long time (lawsuits etc), and they would need a frame rate of 30 fps for sleight of hand issues and the higher resolution that you listed. Regardless, even if that is the case, there is nothing wrong with submitting an ask slashdot article about your needs.
As for solutions,