The University of Maryland system has a huge Microsoft contract, but UMBC still has dual-boot Linux labs. In fact, we distribute a custom version of Red Hat as "UMBC Linux" with AFS support, custom installer, and a few other things. The server room is mostly Linux these days, with some IRIX and Solaris (and one Vax, IIRC).
Funny, yes, but please do consider that freshmeat provides features other than a search engine. We edit the descriptions to ensure that they're sensible and (relatively) easy to read, and a human processes each new application or a change to an existing application. We also do have Category Reviews to highlight applications we list for a specific purpose/niche, and other original articles. And projects can announce new releases on the front page in order to get attention (and let existing users know a new release is out, of course [though if you subscribe to a project, you'll get an email]).
You may want to check out http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/495/ for more information on what we provide for users and developers.
Unlike Zion and their machines, I don't need DRM-enabled services and applications to live. None of the artists that I really like have ever tried to implement copy prevention on their CDs, and it's unlikely that they'll use DRM either, because they actually want people to hear their music above all else. I've already used Linux at home for over 3 years now. There will always be a choice. You may be "shut out" from some services, but maybe that will inspire you to seek an alternative service that values your business a bit more. The type of people who disdain going to malls, hate most of the radio stations on the dial, think most news outlets are useless, etc. will get along much the same as they have been.
That said, I think that DRM is fine in some cases. Something like DRM might have made Phantasy Star Online a far more stable game, instead of the mass of annoying and ineffective anti-cheating features that cause your saved game with hundreds of hours to get corrupted at the drop of a hat. I don't care if it's put into game consoles, which are basically black boxes anyway.
The movies, music, and many of the programs that I like and use will probably never be big enough that they can be opressive. That's fine with me. The vast majority of people choose to fit the consumer mold, choose a commercial lifestyle, and they will get what the big companies want them to get, which is what they're getting now anyway. It's basically an illusion that you're doing what you want by illegally downloading that Brittany song. Who do you think made you like it in the first place?
Take screenshots of what happens when you go through winipcfg and put them on your hard drive. Then just browse through them and pretend you're actually doing it.
Comcast doesn't seem to care what I run; they say something to the effect of, "OK, well you'll have to set that up yourself." As long as my DHCP client works, they don't seem to care that it's OpenBSD. I know I've checked my end, so I sometimes tell them I don't run Windows (if they start going into details), and sometimes just tell them what they want to hear. Besides, the lights on the cablemodem are generally what they ask about first, and they can do some diagnostics (and even upgrade the firmware) from their end.
If they service your area, Speakeasy DSL is actually friendly to *nix-like operating systems (and people who want to run servers). Sadly, now my cable bandwidth has been increased and I am lazy. Maybe one day Comcast will actually become the NAT/upload fascists they claim to be.
According to the FAQ, if your submission was rejected by one editor, maybe another will approve it, and they also appear to cave if many people keep submitting the same story.
I want to believe that this can't be completely legal. Does Thailand have any "illegal dumping" laws like (IIRC) the U.S.? Also, if this deal goes through, it might make interesting ammunition the next time Microsoft tries to "estimate" costs of illegal copying. Wait, how much is Windows really worth again? Retail, OEM, or $6? Along those lines, I wonder if any of Microsoft's big customers will be annoyed that someone else is getting a much better deal than they are.
ClearChannel is the company largely responsible for the homogenization of the airwaves. ClearChannel is like the McDonalds of radio: every radio station will be the same across the country, and it will play music that's not really very good, but is designed to appeal to the widest range of people, and is catchy enough that most people put up with it. Also, the same songs will be played many times so that they get wedged into your brain.
ClearChannel is in the business of advertising, not music, and they will readily admit this. Music is there so that people listen to ads and ClearChannel gets money.
Sadly, a lot of commercial-but-non-ClearChannel radio stations have adopted at least some of this model, and will seldom play anything really original/groundbreaking (unless it gets a buzz in college radio first. Most recent example: Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Did you even know that what's on the radio isn't their first album?), and also play the same songs over and over again.
Aside from DJs bringing in their own music (which is not usually allowed on commercial radio), even college radio stations need promotion, as they rely on music that is sent to them by (smaller) labels and distributors.
Having an organization to represent the rights of recording artists is actually a good idea, but the RIAA has really become more of a representative of the major labels instead. Is this entirely their fault? No, the labels would have to change, and ClearChannel be destroyed and never allowed to rise again in any form before really open competition is possible.
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Linux can read NTFS with no problem, and Mandrake apparently has a utility to resize the partitions now.
GAIM and Everybuddy support for AIM file transfer seems to waver. GAIM always supports it for TOC, but I'm not sure about Oscar on either of them. Last I checked, I could receive files fine from AIM users, but my firewall prevented me from sending without a proxy (which would be a pain to set up on a 486 running OpenBSD with no compiler and a 200M hard drive). But that's OK, because I run Apache.
I have to admit that I don't know about a lot of the other stuff; I don't have your scanner or digital camera, and I use the Hauppage WinTV that every other Linux user seems to have:). The GATOS drivers are supposed to be good for ATI under Linux, though, but I've stuck with nVidia.
I seriously doubt that Quicktime supports anything that MPlayer doesn't; in fact, I suspect that the reverse may well be true, and you can get all the codecs in a one-file download. I have heard that pyDDR is good, but I have a PS2, so I can play RealDDR:)
I thought there was something on freshmeat to grab Hotmail mail for you, but I can't remember. You might look there for a native tracker as well. As for ISPs, there are some that are actually _friendly_ to those running "other" operating systems (speakeasy is popular), but I'm lazy, and now Comcast has doubled my downstream/upstream bandwidth, I hardly use Usenet anymore, and I like getting discounts on cable TV so that I can watch Adult Swim and Good Eats. All Comcast seems to care about is that your system does DHCP properly.
(It's actually a bit amazing to me that you replied to this; I guess you must actually check your posts via your user page too. That's a big problem I have with Slashdot; it's not really a discussion forum anymore, since a story is "dead" after an hour.)
I know that telnet is still necessary in some settings due to legacy accounting systems (the particular one I have in mind is by HP, IIRC) that simply don't have a replacement. It can also be used to remotely configure some printers and routers, which shouldn't be accessible (via login) from the outside anyway.
The telnet client can also be used as a diagnostic tool, though netcat is better.
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I don't know. Does it support your hardware? Have you tried/checked? Since you have Comcast, why not download Knoppix and give it a try?
(Since Dell [at least used to] ship Linux as an option with its desktop machines, your chances are better than normal. Also, my school runs Linux labs on Dell machines, as our contract is with Dell.)
If you're not going to share what your legacy applications are, how are we supposed to know whether WINE runs them?
Yes, Comcast will troubleshoot an Internet connection to a machine running OpenBSD. They won't tell you how to set up networking on it, but they will assume you know what you're doing. They can query their modem remotely and check in other ways to determine if it's their fault or yours.
There are plenty of bands out there living on Ramen for whom cost is indeed an issue. Of course, many people will illegally copy commercial software, but that doesn't mean cost isn't an issue.
Between the various commercial Windows studio applications I've used (yes, in a real studio with ADATs, etc.), none of the interfaces have been the same. The interfaces have also changed between releases for the same product.
On top of that, most of them attempt to immitate real-world console interfaces. Jakob Nielson would point out that this is not necessarily the ideal user interface, since computers are different from the real world. I'd like to see someone really try to evaluate an incredibly efficient interface without being constrained by trying to copy the real world (vi the studio app?) Pros are perfectly willing to learn vast amounts of information and adapt to a "weird" interface if it allows them to do their job better (think of accountants and WP5.1). Turning knobs with a mouse _can't_ be the best way.
Failing that, control stations are currently available that provide a real-world console interface to your studio software. Support for these should be a high priority.
Not only audio cues, but most controllers today have "vibrate" functions for when a player is hit, large explosions, or whatever.
I know that after playing a game for a while, I don't need to look at the menus anymore, and I'm used to using my eyes. I'm sure if some thought were put into a game's design in this area, it could work at least reasonably well.
At least he understands the concept that having a PC on every desktop in a business setting is bad in several ways (upgrade treadmill, wasted resources, increased administration). But IT service hasn't reached a "commodity" level, just as other services haven't, which is something that people born in an office tend to forget.
I consider IT support to be, at its core, a blue-collar job. Like other "trades" people, it is largely forgotten by many "business" people (at least until it doesn't work), and quality of service varies widely.
If your network is set up and maintained by people who really don't know their stuff, productivity will suffer. Are operating system updates tested before they're applied? Are they applied at all? Does your IT staff try to adapt the system to fit the needs of the users? Do they even talk to the users? Are you losing productivity to viruses when they should have been stopped by a mail gateway? Does the network "randomly go down"?
Similarly, if the HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc. systems in your building are poorly maintained, that will have a real impact on your business. Someone who really understands their chosen trade can make all the difference in the world, whether you're in the planning phase or maintaining a 100-year-old building.
While it's true that many companies today spend too much on IT _equipment_, the value of good support staff should never be underemphasized. Great techs can do wonders with even a tiny equipment budget.
Yes, the "butterfly" keyboard. I've had my Thinkpad 701CS (with such a keyboard) for ~4 years with no problems though, and I bought it used. The trackpoint has worn out, but the keyboard is still completely functional. I did think it looked rather fragile, but no problems so far. Plus, everyone thinks it's really cool looking:)
You might as well ask that every single other Linux review focus just a little bit on actually using the distribution in question, rather than talking about the installer.
This fills me with much anger. Yes, the installer is important. But most people manage to rope someone more experienced into "helping" them install Linux. I don't know anyone (other than Linux reviewers) who spends most of their time installing operating systems.
What's important are things like:
How easy is it to get a new version of Mozilla when it comes out? How easy is it to install applications after the initial installation process? How do I know about security updates, and how do I install them? When it comes time to upgrade to the next major version, how many small animals will I have to sacrifice?
IOW, does it age gracefully?
But very little time is spent on this; people would rather focus on whether the installer managed to recognize their development breadboard card from BitBoys AND their 300 baud modem. Forget that. You can buy someone from the local LUG pizza and have them take care of all that for you in the beginning, but you don't want to have to rent out a room to them.
Perhaps as part of their intro, Lindows could talk about how to use/find/install common Linux "equivalents" to widely used Microsoft programs. Someone was starting a table on a Web site about that very thing a while ago.
As for advertising, Lindows (and its founder) should have plenty of money for that. That's the best way they could "give back to the community": popularize their Linux distribution so that your boss uses it at home, and it seems natural to him when you suggest it be used in the server room (or on his desk at work).
Along those lines, our university just got done with a 2-day sales presentation by Maximus (basically the best facilities management software on the market). The backend can run on Oracle, but it also needs a Windows application server in order to use browser-based thin clients, or fat Windows clients. The Maximus folks mentioned that they sometimes encounter companies with resistance to anything Microsoft in the server room; when I asked them what they did in those cases, the one rep said that he generally managed to convince management with the argument that that's what they were running at home.
Yes, it makes no sense to ME that the operating system on your home computer (which you probably yell at for crashing) would automatically make sense in a server room, but it apparently makes sense to enough management types.
In some stores, you can tell the commission a salesperson gets by the last digit in the price of the item. For example, if something is $24.55, they get 5% commission on that sale.
But as another poster mentioned, most places just do it because it does have a psychological effect on many people; $299 really does look significantly better than $300.
As for the benchmark part of this article, it's good that people investigate this sort of thing, but every company stacks benchmarks in their favor. Always. They do it because they want their stuff to look the best so that they can make more money, and because they know all the other companies are going to do it too. This is less blatant than some I've seen over the years (no, too lazy to find examples).
Write-protecting the floppy will not necessarily prevent it from being overwritten. The write-protect tab simply tells the hardware that it shouldn't write to the disk, and generally operating systems (as they should) honor this. However, an attacker could potentially get around this.
I heard of one company that had a Web server with a CD-RW and a CD-ROM drive. The site content was on a CD, and they moved it to the CD-RW drive when they needed to update it, then moved it back to the CD-ROM drive for normal operation. I always thought that was a great idea (provided you have easy physical access to your servers).
Ah, I guess you haven't heard of the "tentmaker" philosophy, followed by several ministers I've known. This basically means that a pastor should not be dependant on his congregation for a livelihood (in the beginning, they would make tents, though in modern times we get people who are, to use a real-world example, elevator repairmen).
You waste time posting on Slashdot. People waste time watching TV. I don't consider worship to be a waste of time.
Proselytizing is unique to several sects of Christianity, and thus not DIRECTLY as a result of a belief in God. This is my argument: belief in God, in and of itself, most certainly is not a "burden on society."
I argue that the rest of your list falls into the category of things that are done by people who have misunderstood or twisted belief.
If you're looking for great rock music made somewhat recently, with albums that don't have filler, I suggest you check out Quasi, The Hives, or Burning Airlines (who have sadly broken up). For something a little quieter, try Boy Crazy, Slow Reader, Hefner, Stereolab, or Call and Response. For "out there", try Moxy Fruvous or They Might Be Giants. For fast-paced electronic pop, try Enon (currently on tour), Freezepop, The Stereo Total,or El Guapo.
It's been my experience that most of the music of college radio stations (i.e. artists who are independant or from smaller labels) tends to have CDs with a very high percentage of quality songs. Of course, we get our share of 1-hit CDs (interesting observation: track 1 of a CD is seldom the same as the rest of the album), and there are of course plenty of albums that are crap or just average.
For finding out about this stuff (assuming you aren't involved with a college radio station), you can go to http://www.cmj.com , or to the sites of good distributors like Team Clermont, McGathy, etc. (who distribute music for labels too small to do it themselves, and are selective in what they work). Labels like spinART, Touch and Go, Dischord, Fueled by Ramen, and many other I've forgotten always seem to have good stuff coming out. Again, not everything is stellar, but that's life.
Of course, sometimes we get lucky and a really talented artist like Tool, Radiohead, Beck, or Weezer become popular. Though some people are snobs and won't admit to liking them after they "make it big", most college stations still play them because hey, it's still good music. REM and Radiohead, in particular, got their start in college radio (for that matter, we were playing "My Name Is" by Eminem well before commercial radio found it).
not every good performer is an aging prog-rock band. There are hip-hop bands that put on good performances (Public Enemy) and mind-blowingly excellent performances (The Roots), and if Moxy Fruvous (not hip-hop) ever comes to your area, see them. I could list many more, but I just wanted to make the point that great live performances are not restricted to "the artists of old."
KÃenig's Art Emporium, at least several years ago when my mom worked there, wouldn't carry any product unless they could do at least 40% markup on it. Aquarium and reptile stores generally have markup of around 100% (my brother works for two of them). Fast food establishments have obscene profit margins. It's mostly computer retailers that have thin margins, especially on certain items such as hard drives (far less than 10%). Computer hardware middlemen do even worse than the end retailer.
Pressing the CDs is just manufacturing. Designing the CD case _can_ be an artistic effort, but it seems like most bands just don't try very hard. There are, of course, exceptions (Tool, Blanket Music, others).
The other part thats requires actual talent and should always be adequately compensated are the producing and the engineering (tracking, mixing, and mastering). Many of the "top 40" bands these days sound awful without a good studio and a great engineer [comments about whether they sound awful anyway shall be saved for another discussion]. This is an essential part of the recording process, and applies equally to the online version. And even a great band (The Beatles) can go further with a great producer (George Martin). Engineers and producers (good ones) are artists too.
Which in turn reminds me of Mad magazine's "Popes gone bad", with such things as drive-by baptisms. And also those annoying bumper stickers that say something along the lines of "Warning: in case of rapture, this car will be unoccupied".
Please reply with some proof that believe in God, in and of itself, creates a burden on society. I don't get Presbyterian Welfare, last I checked. Religious institutions are supported by their believers. In fact, they draw in money which is used for charitable purposes, thus aiding society. Tithing is part of both Christianity and Islam, and possibly others. It seems like you just threw that in because it's a popular opinion to have around here.
I'm not talking about misguided people who misinterpret their chosen belief system and use that as justification to harm others. That has almost nothing to do with belief; in some cases it's a result of _religion_, but other things could be substituted.
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The University of Maryland system has a huge Microsoft contract, but UMBC still has dual-boot Linux labs. In fact, we distribute a custom version of Red Hat as "UMBC Linux" with AFS support, custom installer, and a few other things. The server room is mostly Linux these days, with some IRIX and Solaris (and one Vax, IIRC).
Funny, yes, but please do consider that freshmeat provides features other than a search engine. We edit the descriptions to ensure that they're sensible and (relatively) easy to read, and a human processes each new application or a change to an existing application. We also do have Category Reviews to highlight applications we list for a specific purpose/niche, and other original articles. And projects can announce new releases on the front page in order to get attention (and let existing users know a new release is out, of course [though if you subscribe to a project, you'll get an email]).
You may want to check out http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/495/ for more information on what we provide for users and developers.
Unlike Zion and their machines, I don't need DRM-enabled services and applications to live. None of the artists that I really like have ever tried to implement copy prevention on their CDs, and it's unlikely that they'll use DRM either, because they actually want people to hear their music above all else. I've already used Linux at home for over 3 years now. There will always be a choice. You may be "shut out" from some services, but maybe that will inspire you to seek an alternative service that values your business a bit more. The type of people who disdain going to malls, hate most of the radio stations on the dial, think most news outlets are useless, etc. will get along much the same as they have been.
That said, I think that DRM is fine in some cases. Something like DRM might have made Phantasy Star Online a far more stable game, instead of the mass of annoying and ineffective anti-cheating features that cause your saved game with hundreds of hours to get corrupted at the drop of a hat. I don't care if it's put into game consoles, which are basically black boxes anyway.
The movies, music, and many of the programs that I like and use will probably never be big enough that they can be opressive. That's fine with me. The vast majority of people choose to fit the consumer mold, choose a commercial lifestyle, and they will get what the big companies want them to get, which is what they're getting now anyway. It's basically an illusion that you're doing what you want by illegally downloading that Brittany song. Who do you think made you like it in the first place?
Take screenshots of what happens when you go through winipcfg and put them on your hard drive. Then just browse through them and pretend you're actually doing it.
Comcast doesn't seem to care what I run; they say something to the effect of, "OK, well you'll have to set that up yourself." As long as my DHCP client works, they don't seem to care that it's OpenBSD. I know I've checked my end, so I sometimes tell them I don't run Windows (if they start going into details), and sometimes just tell them what they want to hear. Besides, the lights on the cablemodem are generally what they ask about first, and they can do some diagnostics (and even upgrade the firmware) from their end.
If they service your area, Speakeasy DSL is actually friendly to *nix-like operating systems (and people who want to run servers). Sadly, now my cable bandwidth has been increased and I am lazy. Maybe one day Comcast will actually become the NAT/upload fascists they claim to be.
According to the FAQ, if your submission was rejected by one editor, maybe another will approve it, and they also appear to cave if many people keep submitting the same story.
I want to believe that this can't be completely legal. Does Thailand have any "illegal dumping" laws like (IIRC) the U.S.? Also, if this deal goes through, it might make interesting ammunition the next time Microsoft tries to "estimate" costs of illegal copying. Wait, how much is Windows really worth again? Retail, OEM, or $6? Along those lines, I wonder if any of Microsoft's big customers will be annoyed that someone else is getting a much better deal than they are.
ClearChannel is the company largely responsible for the homogenization of the airwaves. ClearChannel is like the McDonalds of radio: every radio station will be the same across the country, and it will play music that's not really very good, but is designed to appeal to the widest range of people, and is catchy enough that most people put up with it. Also, the same songs will be played many times so that they get wedged into your brain.
ClearChannel is in the business of advertising, not music, and they will readily admit this. Music is there so that people listen to ads and ClearChannel gets money.
Sadly, a lot of commercial-but-non-ClearChannel radio stations have adopted at least some of this model, and will seldom play anything really original/groundbreaking (unless it gets a buzz in college radio first. Most recent example: Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Did you even know that what's on the radio isn't their first album?), and also play the same songs over and over again.
Aside from DJs bringing in their own music (which is not usually allowed on commercial radio), even college radio stations need promotion, as they rely on music that is sent to them by (smaller) labels and distributors.
Having an organization to represent the rights of recording artists is actually a good idea, but the RIAA has really become more of a representative of the major labels instead. Is this entirely their fault? No, the labels would have to change, and ClearChannel be destroyed and never allowed to rise again in any form before really open competition is possible.
Linux can read NTFS with no problem, and Mandrake apparently has a utility to resize the partitions now.
:). The GATOS drivers are supposed to be good for ATI under Linux, though, but I've stuck with nVidia.
:)
GAIM and Everybuddy support for AIM file transfer seems to waver. GAIM always supports it for TOC, but I'm not sure about Oscar on either of them. Last I checked, I could receive files fine from AIM users, but my firewall prevented me from sending without a proxy (which would be a pain to set up on a 486 running OpenBSD with no compiler and a 200M hard drive). But that's OK, because I run Apache.
I have to admit that I don't know about a lot of the other stuff; I don't have your scanner or digital camera, and I use the Hauppage WinTV that every other Linux user seems to have
I seriously doubt that Quicktime supports anything that MPlayer doesn't; in fact, I suspect that the reverse may well be true, and you can get all the codecs in a one-file download. I have heard that pyDDR is good, but I have a PS2, so I can play RealDDR
I thought there was something on freshmeat to grab Hotmail mail for you, but I can't remember. You might look there for a native tracker as well. As for ISPs, there are some that are actually _friendly_ to those running "other" operating systems (speakeasy is popular), but I'm lazy, and now Comcast has doubled my downstream/upstream bandwidth, I hardly use Usenet anymore, and I like getting discounts on cable TV so that I can watch Adult Swim and Good Eats. All Comcast seems to care about is that your system does DHCP properly.
(It's actually a bit amazing to me that you replied to this; I guess you must actually check your posts via your user page too. That's a big problem I have with Slashdot; it's not really a discussion forum anymore, since a story is "dead" after an hour.)
I know that telnet is still necessary in some settings due to legacy accounting systems (the particular one I have in mind is by HP, IIRC) that simply don't have a replacement. It can also be used to remotely configure some printers and routers, which shouldn't be accessible (via login) from the outside anyway.
The telnet client can also be used as a diagnostic tool, though netcat is better.
I don't know. Does it support your hardware? Have you tried/checked? Since you have Comcast, why not download Knoppix and give it a try?
(Since Dell [at least used to] ship Linux as an option with its desktop machines, your chances are better than normal. Also, my school runs Linux labs on Dell machines, as our contract is with Dell.)
If you're not going to share what your legacy applications are, how are we supposed to know whether WINE runs them?
Yes, Comcast will troubleshoot an Internet connection to a machine running OpenBSD. They won't tell you how to set up networking on it, but they will assume you know what you're doing. They can query their modem remotely and check in other ways to determine if it's their fault or yours.
There are plenty of bands out there living on Ramen for whom cost is indeed an issue. Of course, many people will illegally copy commercial software, but that doesn't mean cost isn't an issue.
Between the various commercial Windows studio applications I've used (yes, in a real studio with ADATs, etc.), none of the interfaces have been the same. The interfaces have also changed between releases for the same product.
On top of that, most of them attempt to immitate real-world console interfaces. Jakob Nielson would point out that this is not necessarily the ideal user interface, since computers are different from the real world. I'd like to see someone really try to evaluate an incredibly efficient interface without being constrained by trying to copy the real world (vi the studio app?) Pros are perfectly willing to learn vast amounts of information and adapt to a "weird" interface if it allows them to do their job better (think of accountants and WP5.1). Turning knobs with a mouse _can't_ be the best way.
Failing that, control stations are currently available that provide a real-world console interface to your studio software. Support for these should be a high priority.
Not only audio cues, but most controllers today have "vibrate" functions for when a player is hit, large explosions, or whatever.
I know that after playing a game for a while, I don't need to look at the menus anymore, and I'm used to using my eyes. I'm sure if some thought were put into a game's design in this area, it could work at least reasonably well.
At least he understands the concept that having a PC on every desktop in a business setting is bad in several ways (upgrade treadmill, wasted resources, increased administration). But IT service hasn't reached a "commodity" level, just as other services haven't, which is something that people born in an office tend to forget.
I consider IT support to be, at its core, a blue-collar job. Like other "trades" people, it is largely forgotten by many "business" people (at least until it doesn't work), and quality of service varies widely.
If your network is set up and maintained by people who really don't know their stuff, productivity will suffer. Are operating system updates tested before they're applied? Are they applied at all? Does your IT staff try to adapt the system to fit the needs of the users? Do they even talk to the users? Are you losing productivity to viruses when they should have been stopped by a mail gateway? Does the network "randomly go down"?
Similarly, if the HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc. systems in your building are poorly maintained, that will have a real impact on your business. Someone who really understands their chosen trade can make all the difference in the world, whether you're in the planning phase or maintaining a 100-year-old building.
While it's true that many companies today spend too much on IT _equipment_, the value of good support staff should never be underemphasized. Great techs can do wonders with even a tiny equipment budget.
Yes, the "butterfly" keyboard. I've had my Thinkpad 701CS (with such a keyboard) for ~4 years with no problems though, and I bought it used. The trackpoint has worn out, but the keyboard is still completely functional. I did think it looked rather fragile, but no problems so far. Plus, everyone thinks it's really cool looking :)
You might as well ask that every single other Linux review focus just a little bit on actually using the distribution in question, rather than talking about the installer.
This fills me with much anger. Yes, the installer is important. But most people manage to rope someone more experienced into "helping" them install Linux. I don't know anyone (other than Linux reviewers) who spends most of their time installing operating systems.
What's important are things like:
How easy is it to get a new version of Mozilla when it comes out?
How easy is it to install applications after the initial installation process?
How do I know about security updates, and how do I install them?
When it comes time to upgrade to the next major version, how many small animals will I have to sacrifice?
IOW, does it age gracefully?
But very little time is spent on this; people would rather focus on whether the installer managed to recognize their development breadboard card from BitBoys AND their 300 baud modem. Forget that. You can buy someone from the local LUG pizza and have them take care of all that for you in the beginning, but you don't want to have to rent out a room to them.
Perhaps as part of their intro, Lindows could talk about how to use/find/install common Linux "equivalents" to widely used Microsoft programs. Someone was starting a table on a Web site about that very thing a while ago.
As for advertising, Lindows (and its founder) should have plenty of money for that. That's the best way they could "give back to the community": popularize their Linux distribution so that your boss uses it at home, and it seems natural to him when you suggest it be used in the server room (or on his desk at work).
Along those lines, our university just got done with a 2-day sales presentation by Maximus (basically the best facilities management software on the market). The backend can run on Oracle, but it also needs a Windows application server in order to use browser-based thin clients, or fat Windows clients. The Maximus folks mentioned that they sometimes encounter companies with resistance to anything Microsoft in the server room; when I asked them what they did in those cases, the one rep said that he generally managed to convince management with the argument that that's what they were running at home.
Yes, it makes no sense to ME that the operating system on your home computer (which you probably yell at for crashing) would automatically make sense in a server room, but it apparently makes sense to enough management types.
In some stores, you can tell the commission a salesperson gets by the last digit in the price of the item. For example, if something is $24.55, they get 5% commission on that sale.
But as another poster mentioned, most places just do it because it does have a psychological effect on many people; $299 really does look significantly better than $300.
As for the benchmark part of this article, it's good that people investigate this sort of thing, but every company stacks benchmarks in their favor. Always. They do it because they want their stuff to look the best so that they can make more money, and because they know all the other companies are going to do it too. This is less blatant than some I've seen over the years (no, too lazy to find examples).
Write-protecting the floppy will not necessarily prevent it from being overwritten. The write-protect tab simply tells the hardware that it shouldn't write to the disk, and generally operating systems (as they should) honor this. However, an attacker could potentially get around this.
I heard of one company that had a Web server with a CD-RW and a CD-ROM drive. The site content was on a CD, and they moved it to the CD-RW drive when they needed to update it, then moved it back to the CD-ROM drive for normal operation. I always thought that was a great idea (provided you have easy physical access to your servers).
I don't know if you'll ever read this, but that was one excellent comment. I never thought of it that way.
Ah, I guess you haven't heard of the "tentmaker" philosophy, followed by several ministers I've known. This basically means that a pastor should not be dependant on his congregation for a livelihood (in the beginning, they would make tents, though in modern times we get people who are, to use a real-world example, elevator repairmen).
You waste time posting on Slashdot. People waste time watching TV. I don't consider worship to be a waste of time.
Proselytizing is unique to several sects of Christianity, and thus not DIRECTLY as a result of a belief in God. This is my argument: belief in God, in and of itself, most certainly is not a "burden on society."
I argue that the rest of your list falls into the category of things that are done by people who have misunderstood or twisted belief.
If you're looking for great rock music made somewhat recently, with albums that don't have filler, I suggest you check out Quasi, The Hives, or Burning Airlines (who have sadly broken up). For something a little quieter, try Boy Crazy, Slow Reader, Hefner, Stereolab, or Call and Response. For "out there", try Moxy Fruvous or They Might Be Giants. For fast-paced electronic pop, try Enon (currently on tour), Freezepop, The Stereo Total,or El Guapo.
It's been my experience that most of the music of college radio stations (i.e. artists who are independant or from smaller labels) tends to have CDs with a very high percentage of quality songs. Of course, we get our share of 1-hit CDs (interesting observation: track 1 of a CD is seldom the same as the rest of the album), and there are of course plenty of albums that are crap or just average.
For finding out about this stuff (assuming you aren't involved with a college radio station), you can go to http://www.cmj.com , or to the sites of good distributors like Team Clermont, McGathy, etc. (who distribute music for labels too small to do it themselves, and are selective in what they work). Labels like spinART, Touch and Go, Dischord, Fueled by Ramen, and many other I've forgotten always seem to have good stuff coming out. Again, not everything is stellar, but that's life.
Of course, sometimes we get lucky and a really talented artist like Tool, Radiohead, Beck, or Weezer become popular. Though some people are snobs and won't admit to liking them after they "make it big", most college stations still play them because hey, it's still good music. REM and Radiohead, in particular, got their start in college radio (for that matter, we were playing "My Name Is" by Eminem well before commercial radio found it).
not every good performer is an aging prog-rock band. There are hip-hop bands that put on good performances (Public Enemy) and mind-blowingly excellent performances (The Roots), and if Moxy Fruvous (not hip-hop) ever comes to your area, see them. I could list many more, but I just wanted to make the point that great live performances are not restricted to "the artists of old."
KÃenig's Art Emporium, at least several years ago when my mom worked there, wouldn't carry any product unless they could do at least 40% markup on it. Aquarium and reptile stores generally have markup of around 100% (my brother works for two of them). Fast food establishments have obscene profit margins. It's mostly computer retailers that have thin margins, especially on certain items such as hard drives (far less than 10%). Computer hardware middlemen do even worse than the end retailer.
Pressing the CDs is just manufacturing. Designing the CD case _can_ be an artistic effort, but it seems like most bands just don't try very hard. There are, of course, exceptions (Tool, Blanket Music, others).
The other part thats requires actual talent and should always be adequately compensated are the producing and the engineering (tracking, mixing, and mastering). Many of the "top 40" bands these days sound awful without a good studio and a great engineer [comments about whether they sound awful anyway shall be saved for another discussion]. This is an essential part of the recording process, and applies equally to the online version. And even a great band (The Beatles) can go further with a great producer (George Martin). Engineers and producers (good ones) are artists too.
Which in turn reminds me of Mad magazine's "Popes gone bad", with such things as drive-by baptisms. And also those annoying bumper stickers that say something along the lines of "Warning: in case of rapture, this car will be unoccupied".
Please reply with some proof that believe in God, in and of itself, creates a burden on society. I don't get Presbyterian Welfare, last I checked. Religious institutions are supported by their believers. In fact, they draw in money which is used for charitable purposes, thus aiding society. Tithing is part of both Christianity and Islam, and possibly others. It seems like you just threw that in because it's a popular opinion to have around here.
I'm not talking about misguided people who misinterpret their chosen belief system and use that as justification to harm others. That has almost nothing to do with belief; in some cases it's a result of _religion_, but other things could be substituted.