School Linux has recieved a grand from the Norwegian educational ministery. The grant was for USD 27,673.81 and funded a fundamental research into the feasibility of Linux in schools.
You spent $2000 on that iBook. There's a reason for that.
If I were so lucky... It's my mom's...:) And according to the current exchange rate she spent only 1,286 USD for a new iBook. It was the low-end model but more than enough for her.
What the Linux / OSS need to to is to use some leverage to get open specs on the hardware. People complain that Apple can make perfect-fit hardware (I can't understand why someone would complain about this), but what are OSS developers doing themselves to make the situation better? Not much it seems.
What if the OSS community took the initiative to make the specs and firmware themselves and let the manufacturer make the product?
Just a funny note: I installed an Airport wireless LAN card in an iBook last weekend. It didn't really strike me then, but I realize that something wass odd about the installation.
When I threw away the old cardbord box today I looked through it to see if there was anything to kepp. I then realized that there was no manual on how to install it and no drivers disc (there might have been an upgrade disc accompanying the box but it was never used).
It can actually be made this simple. Open box. Turn off computer. Open keyboard. Read sticker with instructions. Follow instructions. Close keyboard. Turn on computer. It works.
This is so wastly different from my windows - Linux reality that is my daily life.
Now, before the flames come, let me just say that I DO know how to tar -zxvf |./configure |make |make install, rpm -Uvh and apt-get whatever. But not everyone do. The single greatest advantage to be made for Linux is a unified multi-platform install and upgrade system.
RPM is almost there and apt-get is nice to use. Redhat Upgrade is also nice to have. But when a cool program arrives, I should be able to download a single package for WhatEver Linux.
While we're on the subject, dependancies. This must be solved if Joe Blow is to use Linux. I have used Linux every day for three years, and still these dependancies and linkage confuses me. Apt-get solves some of this, but that's only half-way to the solution.
Sorry, but I don't know the name of the university or the professor. The story was told to me by a common friend (Thomas), that spoke to Andreas (The guy with the paper.). Thomas told me this, since he knows I'm a Linux advocate. This is not a troll, but a real story.
To clear things up: The paper was supposed to be a real-life project proposal, in every detail. That's why he was told to drop Linux as an option, in favor of Windows. I think he did it just to satisfy his professor, as he was instructed.
Exactly what I was taking into consideration when I wrote this article for my employer. I read up on the subject, watched the KLAS-TV broadcasts and concluded that this was probably some promotion deal for their video deal.
However, I also understood that if someone would cough up USD 10 000, they would do it. That's why I wrote the article.
A friend of mine studies in Australia, and was instructed to not base the idea in one of his comp.sci papers on Linux. Because of the SCO scare. The professor told him to go with Windows 2003 server systems, so the (imaginary) system would not be unusable in case of an SCO win.
Switzerland is also "world champion" in the recycling of aluminium and glass. I don't want to show off but a return rate of 93.8% for glass is quite impressive in my opinion.
We're up there too, with some 95% recycling of the plastic bottles. The recycling system is made up of two additional expenses: A fee and a deposit. On aluminium, there was a NOK 5 fee per can (0.70 USD) when no recycling program existed. Once the programme started, an additional deposit of NOK 1 was added. But the fee would decrease according to the percentage of cans recycled. Now, the recycling percentage is over 95% so the fee is dropped. But if people sleck off, the price of the product increases.
How much is this "Deposit" though? Does it add significant cost to the product?
The way it works is that the company delivering the product, or selling it to you, is responsible for disposing of it properly. They finance this through a small self-imposed fee. This fee increases with the size, cost and enviroment hostility of the appliance. I think my new fridge had a fee of 10 USD or so.
Here, in the land of the midnight sun, we have to pay a recycling and disposal fee for every electronic product. This has an advantage; the store is obligated to take your old TV in return and dispose of it properly. Saves me a trip to recycling plant.
You want someone to be a fullt-time entertainer and fly their own planes, do their own accounting, arrange their own bookings, run their own payroll, act as their own lawyers, write their own contracts, prepare their own taxes, etc.?? Without middlemen, those bands you keep referring to as "artists" would never break out of the college bar circuits.
You know, some bands do this themselves.. And they DO break out of college circuits. Why, the crazy little girls even offer some of their music for free! They must be cray-zee, since the only way to make money is through a middleman. I guess that's why they earn less than an artist signed on a large label. Oh, wait. They earn more . (Per CD sold, since they are their own promotor, record label and publisher). But they must suck, right? It must be ultra commercial music? Well, you can always download it and make up your own mind... At least the critics love them.
Uh, no. Track what wants to be tracked. Don't wanna be tracked? Fin. Don't carry the Woznet device around with you. Want to have some privacy for a while? Leave it at home.
WAP / XHTML applications like this can be a lifesaver. Why don't we spend more time deveoping these and less time porting inane games to our phones? (Because games create money)
The reason that everyone (including the federal guvnment) still uses Microsoft is because, It Just Works(TM).
The Windows "just works" thing is a myth. I would say that 2/3rds of the time, an HW installation in Windows works OK. But the remaining 1/3rd is practically impossible to solve for an end-user.
Let me tell you the wonderful story of the Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse. I got hold of one of these right after Christmas and went home to try it out. As I was putting the CD in the computer, I noticed that i said "MS XP only". I was running 2000 at the time (Now running RedHat 8). OK, so I couldn't use the Bluetooth device on my computer without paying additional MS tax.
OK, so I gave it to a friends girlfriend who had XP on the computer. She couldn't install it, so I went up to her to install the device. I put the CD in the machine and was told that I needed XP SP1 to do this. Fuckin' L. OK. The XP SP1 CD was included was after 30 minutes, it was installed on her computer. Reboot, and try the Bluetooth driver CD again. It seemed to install something but it soon told me that since I did not use the English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, Chinese (simplified), Japanese, Danish or Swedish language, the drivers could not be installed. (She had Norwegian installed) DAMN IT!
After the failed attempt to get the Microsoft product to work on another Microsoft product, I went to my mother to have a look at her new iBook. I though that just for kicks, I could put the MS Bluetooth dongle in the Mac USB port. So I did, and......nothing. No dialogs, no driver installs. Then suddenly, a new icon on the screen! A Bluetooth icon. It worked. Flawlessly. It communicated with my Sony Ericsson t68i AND the Microsoft mouse.
Of course M$ will do everything in its power to bury linux, what's the news here ?
That a major player like the city of Munich has said "Fück You" to the blackmail-like offers from an american monopolist and the monopolist went on its first real-world loss. MS is shaking now, if Munich becomes a beacon of OSS, MS has a big problem. Other cities equal in size or smaller should be able to adopt their methods and succeed. The maybe city of Lyon would say "Phuque You" to MS or Barcelona would say "Bete a tomar por culo".
We're talking domino effect here, folks. If the elected officials in the Bundesstäter (Can't remember exactly what it is called) see that this fuctions just like MS-soultions only cheaper, the road is paved for OSS country-wide.
Not, they don't. There's a small fraction of the kurds making a hell of a racket about this, but the fact is that most (we're talking 4/5s here) of turkish kurds just want to live in peace and is pissed off at the noisy kurds for destrouing their chance.
False positives result in a lot of stress for people until they have proper tests. False negatives of course have even worse consequences.
I have seen the hardships of a cancer patient, my mother, up close. After the operation was over and she was decleared cancer free, the nightmare began. The semi-annual check-ups. The false positive rate for these check-ups is amazinf. She has been checked 10 times the last 5 years and 8 out of ten times she was called back for confirmation of non-existense of cancer with all the fear you could imagnine. How can this device be any worse?
Mac is cheaper than PCs, even in laptops. It all depends on what you'll use it for. I'm trying to convince a pal that the iBook would be a better purchase for his mother than a Fujitsu Siemens PC. The iBook is rougly 9500 NOK and the Siemens 11500 NOK.
The difference in speed mHz, RAM etc. is irrelevant for a person just getting used to computers and the net. When she is having weekly problems with the Siemens / Windows machine, it will be lost money in time. While the Mac is cheaper in usage, because of less "frustration time" and less hassle.
This is an argument I would strongly disagree with, if you asked me two years ago. But since then, I have come to the conclusion that the Mac simply work better for the lay people. It does the work, and faster because there are less frustrations and less hassle.
My arokplace chose between the 6210 and the 5110 for the standard use mobile phone once. They chose the 5110, simply because it is rock-steady, durable and there was no need (back then) for WAP.
However, things change.
Today, a phone without XHTML or WAP is unthinkable in the media. Some of us have to keep along the curve, even though we are comfortable with the things we have.
Your setup seem like it could use a update that will last. I suggest waiting half a year and buying the Sony Ericsson P810, I guarantee you'll be happy with it...;)
Am I the only one to think that the only people getting benefits from such a virus are people selling anti-virus ?
I'm actually IMing with my friend in the anti virus industry now. I asked him the same question som time ago and he said: "The Microsoft viruses and worms pops up so fast that we don't have time to do anything but analyze and update our software"
And he is getting sick of those conspiracy theories. Writing worms for Windows is so easy, anyone could do it. There were many old-school viruses that would just flash a message or the like.
Just for the record: I speak for myself. Not my employer.
Now that I have said that, there's something more to say about being written about in the media.
I have never met a person who think that he / she was depicted 100% correctly in an article. As a writing journalist myself, I have some theories about this. When a person writes an article, it's imperative that the article is neutral and fact based. The article about Thedeacon probably has an angle, a focus. This focus may differ from what the article subject thinks is the focus and lead to a different (usually negative) view on the article. Thedeacon said that the article is factual, but the composing makes him view the article as bogus. This does not meant that it is.
It is easier for Thedecaon to simply brush off the article as bogus than actually take a deeper look into himself from another persons angle.
Furthermore, I'd like to adress the myth about the Vendetta Reporter. Some persons think that the article in NYT is a personal attack on Thedeacon for being a success in the MUD scene, staged by the reporter. Why? Does anyone here seriously think that a professional reporter would have something against this person and merge it into an article? It is difficult to be 100% objective in writing, but most of the journalists view this as a goal. If you absolutely need to worry about something? Go worry about the media melting that is currently going on in the US.
As for the ON / OFF-record thingy: Unless a third person is taking notes, there's NO record. A journalist seeks the truth. Thedeacon told a lot of things that he claims were "off the record" but can't prove this. Furthermore, they were relevant for the article. Maybe the the journalist could have taken the "No, everything you tell me is on the record" stance, but I don't know if he did. Anyway, the golde rule is don't tell a journalist something you don't want the journalist to hear...
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School Linux has recieved a grand from the Norwegian educational ministery. The grant was for USD 27,673.81 and funded a fundamental research into the feasibility of Linux in schools.
Yeah, well I usually just enter them on separate lines anyway so... Pipeing isn't something I use a lot.
I have also never met a NIC that wouldn't install itself in Linux.
If I were so lucky... It's my mom's... :) And according to the current exchange rate she spent only 1,286 USD for a new iBook. It was the low-end model but more than enough for her.
What the Linux / OSS need to to is to use some leverage to get open specs on the hardware. People complain that Apple can make perfect-fit hardware (I can't understand why someone would complain about this), but what are OSS developers doing themselves to make the situation better? Not much it seems.
What if the OSS community took the initiative to make the specs and firmware themselves and let the manufacturer make the product?
Nice nickname, BTW.
This is not a troll.
Just a funny note: I installed an Airport wireless LAN card in an iBook last weekend. It didn't really strike me then, but I realize that something wass odd about the installation.
When I threw away the old cardbord box today I looked through it to see if there was anything to kepp. I then realized that there was no manual on how to install it and no drivers disc (there might have been an upgrade disc accompanying the box but it was never used).
It can actually be made this simple. Open box. Turn off computer. Open keyboard. Read sticker with instructions. Follow instructions. Close keyboard. Turn on computer. It works.
This is so wastly different from my windows - Linux reality that is my daily life.
Now, before the flames come, let me just say that I DO know how to tar -zxvf |./configure |make |make install, rpm -Uvh and apt-get whatever. But not everyone do. The single greatest advantage to be made for Linux is a unified multi-platform install and upgrade system.
RPM is almost there and apt-get is nice to use. Redhat Upgrade is also nice to have. But when a cool program arrives, I should be able to download a single package for WhatEver Linux.
While we're on the subject, dependancies. This must be solved if Joe Blow is to use Linux. I have used Linux every day for three years, and still these dependancies and linkage confuses me. Apt-get solves some of this, but that's only half-way to the solution.
Sorry, but I don't know the name of the university or the professor. The story was told to me by a common friend (Thomas), that spoke to Andreas (The guy with the paper.). Thomas told me this, since he knows I'm a Linux advocate. This is not a troll, but a real story.
To clear things up: The paper was supposed to be a real-life project proposal, in every detail. That's why he was told to drop Linux as an option, in favor of Windows. I think he did it just to satisfy his professor, as he was instructed.
Exactly what I was taking into consideration when I wrote this article for my employer. I read up on the subject, watched the KLAS-TV broadcasts and concluded that this was probably some promotion deal for their video deal.
However, I also understood that if someone would cough up USD 10 000, they would do it. That's why I wrote the article.
One word: Insane.
We're up there too, with some 95% recycling of the plastic bottles. The recycling system is made up of two additional expenses: A fee and a deposit. On aluminium, there was a NOK 5 fee per can (0.70 USD) when no recycling program existed. Once the programme started, an additional deposit of NOK 1 was added. But the fee would decrease according to the percentage of cans recycled. Now, the recycling percentage is over 95% so the fee is dropped. But if people sleck off, the price of the product increases.
The way it works is that the company delivering the product, or selling it to you, is responsible for disposing of it properly. They finance this through a small self-imposed fee. This fee increases with the size, cost and enviroment hostility of the appliance. I think my new fridge had a fee of 10 USD or so.
Here, in the land of the midnight sun, we have to pay a recycling and disposal fee for every electronic product. This has an advantage; the store is obligated to take your old TV in return and dispose of it properly. Saves me a trip to recycling plant.
You know, some bands do this themselves.. And they DO break out of college circuits. Why, the crazy little girls even offer some of their music for free! They must be cray-zee, since the only way to make money is through a middleman. I guess that's why they earn less than an artist signed on a large label. Oh, wait. They earn more . (Per CD sold, since they are their own promotor, record label and publisher). But they must suck, right? It must be ultra commercial music? Well, you can always download it and make up your own mind... At least the critics love them.
Uh, no. Track what wants to be tracked. Don't wanna be tracked? Fin. Don't carry the Woznet device around with you. Want to have some privacy for a while? Leave it at home.
Just to clear things up: It is a calculator, not a measuring device.
WAP / XHTML applications like this can be a lifesaver. Why don't we spend more time deveoping these and less time porting inane games to our phones? (Because games create money)
The Windows "just works" thing is a myth. I would say that 2/3rds of the time, an HW installation in Windows works OK. But the remaining 1/3rd is practically impossible to solve for an end-user.
Let me tell you the wonderful story of the Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse. I got hold of one of these right after Christmas and went home to try it out. As I was putting the CD in the computer, I noticed that i said "MS XP only". I was running 2000 at the time (Now running RedHat 8). OK, so I couldn't use the Bluetooth device on my computer without paying additional MS tax.
OK, so I gave it to a friends girlfriend who had XP on the computer. She couldn't install it, so I went up to her to install the device. I put the CD in the machine and was told that I needed XP SP1 to do this. Fuckin' L. OK. The XP SP1 CD was included was after 30 minutes, it was installed on her computer. Reboot, and try the Bluetooth driver CD again. It seemed to install something but it soon told me that since I did not use the English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, Chinese (simplified), Japanese, Danish or Swedish language, the drivers could not be installed. (She had Norwegian installed) DAMN IT!
After the failed attempt to get the Microsoft product to work on another Microsoft product, I went to my mother to have a look at her new iBook. I though that just for kicks, I could put the MS Bluetooth dongle in the Mac USB port. So I did, and...
Go figure.
That a major player like the city of Munich has said "Fück You" to the blackmail-like offers from an american monopolist and the monopolist went on its first real-world loss. MS is shaking now, if Munich becomes a beacon of OSS, MS has a big problem. Other cities equal in size or smaller should be able to adopt their methods and succeed. The maybe city of Lyon would say "Phuque You" to MS or Barcelona would say "Bete a tomar por culo".
We're talking domino effect here, folks. If the elected officials in the Bundesstäter (Can't remember exactly what it is called) see that this fuctions just like MS-soultions only cheaper, the road is paved for OSS country-wide.
Not, they don't. There's a small fraction of the kurds making a hell of a racket about this, but the fact is that most (we're talking 4/5s here) of turkish kurds just want to live in peace and is pissed off at the noisy kurds for destrouing their chance.
It might be that the domain was not a priority for brute force attacks. A brute forcer would probably target a more known and populated domain.
I have seen the hardships of a cancer patient, my mother, up close. After the operation was over and she was decleared cancer free, the nightmare began. The semi-annual check-ups. The false positive rate for these check-ups is amazinf. She has been checked 10 times the last 5 years and 8 out of ten times she was called back for confirmation of non-existense of cancer with all the fear you could imagnine. How can this device be any worse?
Mac is cheaper than PCs, even in laptops. It all depends on what you'll use it for. I'm trying to convince a pal that the iBook would be a better purchase for his mother than a Fujitsu Siemens PC. The iBook is rougly 9500 NOK and the Siemens 11500 NOK.
The difference in speed mHz, RAM etc. is irrelevant for a person just getting used to computers and the net. When she is having weekly problems with the Siemens / Windows machine, it will be lost money in time. While the Mac is cheaper in usage, because of less "frustration time" and less hassle.
This is an argument I would strongly disagree with, if you asked me two years ago. But since then, I have come to the conclusion that the Mac simply work better for the lay people. It does the work, and faster because there are less frustrations and less hassle.
My arokplace chose between the 6210 and the 5110 for the standard use mobile phone once. They chose the 5110, simply because it is rock-steady, durable and there was no need (back then) for WAP.
;)
However, things change.
Today, a phone without XHTML or WAP is unthinkable in the media. Some of us have to keep along the curve, even though we are comfortable with the things we have.
Your setup seem like it could use a update that will last. I suggest waiting half a year and buying the Sony Ericsson P810, I guarantee you'll be happy with it...
Am I the only one to think that the only people getting benefits from such a virus are people selling anti-virus ?
I'm actually IMing with my friend in the anti virus industry now. I asked him the same question som time ago and he said: "The Microsoft viruses and worms pops up so fast that we don't have time to do anything but analyze and update our software"
And he is getting sick of those conspiracy theories. Writing worms for Windows is so easy, anyone could do it. There were many old-school viruses that would just flash a message or the like.
Just for the record: I speak for myself. Not my employer.
Now that I have said that, there's something more to say about being written about in the media.
I have never met a person who think that he / she was depicted 100% correctly in an article. As a writing journalist myself, I have some theories about this.
When a person writes an article, it's imperative that the article is neutral and fact based. The article about Thedeacon probably has an angle, a focus. This focus may differ from what the article subject thinks is the focus and lead to a different (usually negative) view on the article. Thedeacon said that the article is factual, but the composing makes him view the article as bogus. This does not meant that it is.
It is easier for Thedecaon to simply brush off the article as bogus than actually take a deeper look into himself from another persons angle.
Furthermore, I'd like to adress the myth about the Vendetta Reporter. Some persons think that the article in NYT is a personal attack on Thedeacon for being a success in the MUD scene, staged by the reporter. Why? Does anyone here seriously think that a professional reporter would have something against this person and merge it into an article? It is difficult to be 100% objective in writing, but most of the journalists view this as a goal. If you absolutely need to worry about something? Go worry about the media melting that is currently going on in the US.
As for the ON / OFF-record thingy: Unless a third person is taking notes, there's NO record. A journalist seeks the truth. Thedeacon told a lot of things that he claims were "off the record" but can't prove this. Furthermore, they were relevant for the article. Maybe the the journalist could have taken the "No, everything you tell me is on the record" stance, but I don't know if he did. Anyway, the golde rule is don't tell a journalist something you don't want the journalist to hear...