Logicals were wonderful, especially the fact that you could set them at the system and group levels as well as the user levels. Why didn't Unix ever do something like that? I should *not* have to reboot to set a system level variable?
I also prefered VMS's permission scheme.
Versioning built into the FS - aaaahhhhh.
The system tools, yes! The thing *came* with a system monitor that blew the doors off most of the things that have been added on like a bag to the side of Unix.
VMS had a *lot* to offer, as obviously did Unix. Too bad the two camps were always at each others' throats. Had they combined, *nix would kick Windows' butt even more than it already does.
In the mid-80s, around the time the XT or AT came out, someone (Boston Software?) came out with a VMS emulator that ran on top of DOS and gave you multiple logins via the serial ports. What ever happened to that?
Is the company in dire trouble now (that being the reason for the cutbacks), or are they going to be in dire trouble soon because of such cutbacks?
It's almost certainly one or the other. If the company is hurting, an dthis is a part of across-the-board, temporary cost-cutting measures, they should say so, and you can decide how to react.
Otherwise, there's a clueless twit loose, and s/he needs to be dealt with, or your group (if not the company) is dead, dead, dead unless something changes.
As for the details in the meantime, I agree with the "Easy one" poster. It woiuld be one thing if you'd hired in under those terms. But just yanking them because the new guy has his own definition of reality? Maybe you should explain that a real CIO provides his people with the best tools for their job.
Absence per year: At work:
~250 Linux systems: 1-2 hrs/yr
~20 Solaris systems: 1-2 hrs/yr
~25 Windows systems: 2 day/yr?
~10 Macs: 2-3 hrs/yr Then again, we have serious firewalls, and bought a Barracuda spam/virus filter. The Linux downtime is almost all hardware-related (old, dying PS, cheap memory - yes, we're getting away from these). Mac downtime is mostly hardware, and one flaky OS9 app.
At home:
2 Linux systems: 1 day/yr
2 Win systems: 1 day/yr Good firewalls, only the Linux systems have internet access. Linux systems are always on, Windows are on mostly when used, so guesstimate is for lost time. Down time for Linux systems is mostly trying something weird or adding hardware. About half the Windows downtime is for that.
I also have a production Linux server at a colo. It's been up 499 days, and was down for maybe 2 hours the previous year. So 1 hr/yr. I have a good firewall for this system, too.
Lessons? Even Windows systems can show up *if* you have a secure environment and educated, trustworthy users. We have, just today, though, implemented a "no IE" policy. And without Windows, life is even easier.
(For the record, TCO/system at our site, and my house, is *much* lower for the non-Windows systems. 8^)
They could publish the list of sites that are affected... that they know of. How many dothey *not* know of yet?
The problem has a two-fold solution. One of those is securing the corporate sites. The average user can't do anything about that. The other is replacing IE. The average user *can* do that.
Low bid does not (typically) come into play unless and until you have multiple vendors meeting the requirements, or reasonably close to the same set.
You can certainly write requirements that only one vendor can meet, or that precludes certain vendors. It happens all the time. MS obviously loves it when the reqs lock out competition; presumably they are less happy when tey get locked out.
Are any of the CLI newsreaders still around? I really miss those, and they didn't come with RH8. I have yet to find anything nearly as good. Pan is OK, but I still miss trn...
There are lots of smaller ISPs that don't differentiate between business and personal accounts. They just have 1 or 2 or N classes of service (dialup, ISDN, DSL, T1, or Poppa, Momma and Baby, or whatever). If the low end is sufficient, lots of home-based bsuinesses use it.
If you're using an account that's explicitly not for business for your business, then you deserve to get shut down.
I think the idea of shutting down accounts that send spam, even accidentally, has some merit. What would be ideal would be if you could easily set things up so when a violating account authenticated, they could only read email. That way they would have a good chance of seeing the email message you sent them explaining what had happened, why, and how it could be resolved. But that's probably too complex.
As far as businesses go, just allow businesses who expect to have legitimate needs for more than the baseline to tell you. A slight additional fee would cover the cost to modify the filter parameters for that business.
Free email accounts? Anyone using such an account for a business is just begging for touble.
-- To whomever modded my last post "troll", it was a JOKE, YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!
Games! Video games are cool, but to me ping pong and/or pool are more important. But some sort of games where you are moving around, or at least not sitting at your desk, help a great deal with fatigue, both physical and mental.
1) Let me decorate 2) Offices or cubes, just make it ergonomic 3) Aeron chairs!!!!!! They're worth every penny. 4) white boards *everywhere* 5) Geek/creative conference rooms with bean bags, couches, etc. Let the outward facing folks use standard, boring conf. rooms 6) Use natural lighting where possible, non-flourescent lighting *must* be available. 7) No, I do *not want to move*. 8) Lots of power outlets and extra data/voice jacks 9) Offices and cubes are both cool, what do *your* users prefer? Anything but a big, open area works for me. 10) Lots of desk space and shelving 11) BIG monitors and/or dual monitors for desktop systems. 12) User-friendly voice mail 13) Windows for as many folks as possible 14) All rooms must have at least one interior window to let you find people wherever they are. 15) A real kitchen 16) Enough, close by parking spaces, bike racks, etc.
"My only question is..." when will they simply include it in the OS, thereby screwing up the folks who've made life with Windows almost bearable all these years? Time after time, MS promises they won't compete with the third parties who helped them survive and thrive, but soon thereafter the new stuff shows up in the OS and the competition either finds a new market really fast, or they die.
It's all well-documented in the trade press over the years.
Did he provide anyTOS? I doubt it. Most free services are completely "at will". Without knowing all the facts, we can't address how he "should" have handled it.
While I feel for the bloggers who lost their blogs, you get what you pay for. There's an amazing amount of "I demand everything on my own terms" on the internet. IMO, that's a stupid attitude. I suppose I could take it, too, and declare that food, like {blogs,information,software,pick one} should be free, and insist you all give me food so I don't have to buy it. Would that work? I seriously doubt it. In fact, I very much hope not.
And even if you choose to offer me a hamburger today, that doesn't require you to provide me one tomorrow.
I'm responsible for feeding myself. I'm responsible for my internet connection, backups, and everything else. If I enter into a contract with someone, and they agree to provide me with thes ethings in return for money (or food, or whatever), then I'm providing for myself, and they now have a responsibility as well.
It's unclear at this point just what Mr. Winer's responsibilities are in this case, but I seriously doubt they are greater than those of the bloggers.
So, under the prevailing Deep Pockets Theory (``When suing, go after anyone with serious money, regardless of relevant relationship to the case''), the RIAA should include Microsoft in every one of these lawsuits.
I have never, ever, had a single complaint about my cell phone service. Seriously. Nothing's late, no billing problems, no mis-answered questions, no problems with coverage. Nada.
Then again, I loathe cell phones, and don't have one. Since 98% of what I hear about cell phones boils down to these two things:
1) Cool faceplates, games, ringtones, etc 2) The service sucks not just raw eggs, but last year's roadkill raw eggs with salmonella and poisonous spiders crawling all over them
It's not just the common names that get blasted out at random. A while back I started seeing spam hiiting on random three-letter combinations-- presumably initials. But lately I've seen large blocks of *four* letter combos.
At work, we're wrapping up a 30 day trial of a Barracuda. Besides the money we're spending on the system and maintenance, I spend a half hour to an hour each day labeling mail as "spam" or "not spam" (or deciding to ignore it), checking on quarantined email, etc. And it's still better than the situation we had. Meanwhile at home, my hand-rolled deliver filter catches about 80% of the 500 to 1000 messages a day I get there.
It's mind-boggling to me that nobody at a governmental level takes this stuff seriously. It's costing everyone, and seriously cutting into productivity at every company that takes email seriously, not just ISPs.
Spam costs the USA billions of dollars last year (I have no idea of the impact other places, feel free to point to a source or drop some numbers). Obviously that diminished the quality of a lot of lives; I'd bet that you could trace deaths to it as well.
I've proposed the "spammer on a stick" approach for quite some time. I don't think it should be pikes outside an ISP, though. Treat them as the economic terrorists they are, and put their heads on poles of the White House (or replace with your country's main building name) fence.
I'd also be OK with licensing spam hunters. I'd be tempted to apply, myself.
First, how much dialogue have you had with whomever is responsible for the coffee house? Have they given you any direction on what they want or what's acceptable?
Ideally, they'd get some of the youth involved to give you ideas on the kinds of things it's likely to be used for. Then the coffee house folks can decide which of these ideas they're willing to run with (considering liability, parental ire, the neighborhood, etc.) What's desireable and acceptable is going to vary a *lot* depending on the church involved, the neighborhood, the teens, etc.
In other words, do you have any real requirements beyond, "A free computer? Yeah, that'd be neat!" This is probably going to be a non-trivial effort on someone's part (yours, at least), so you really don't want to waste effort of do anything counter-productive.
If you've done all this, great. Most people at this point have not.
I hate cell phones. And since I use my computer for more than Mahjohngg and a calendar, I want something more powerful with a bigger screen, a real keyboard, etc. Finally, the last thing any of us needs is more distractions. ``No, I didn't realize the light was red; I was playing this great new golf game and concentrating really hard on putting.''
[That's not me, because I hate cell phones *and* golf.]
This would screw over all the little guys who have patentable ideas but no way to maximize their profit. Lots of individuals and firms patent things that they sell or license to others.
Each of you needs to ask how long this will go on, and make your individual decision accordingly:
If you'll just be into this for a little while, it shouldn't be a big deal. Ask for a compromise; you'll do this for 2-3 weeks or whatever, and next month you'll go on a long weekend getaway to do what s/he wants.
If it's long term, the onus rests on the other person. They should probably get a branding iron made up that says "I'm a stupid geek with no life" and brand you on the head, butt, and a few other places. Then they should sell you on ebay as a piece of modern art, and use the money to begin a new life on the beach or wherever they would rather be.
Slashdot Mirror
Despite the flamebait-like subject...
I really do miss a number of things about VMS.
Logicals were wonderful, especially the fact that you could set them at the system and group levels as well as the user levels. Why didn't Unix ever do something like that? I should *not* have to reboot to set a system level variable?
I also prefered VMS's permission scheme.
Versioning built into the FS - aaaahhhhh.
The system tools, yes! The thing *came* with a system monitor that blew the doors off most of the things that have been added on like a bag to the side of Unix.
VMS had a *lot* to offer, as obviously did Unix. Too bad the two camps were always at each others' throats. Had they combined, *nix would kick Windows' butt even more than it already does.
In the mid-80s, around the time the XT or AT came out, someone (Boston Software?) came out with a VMS emulator that ran on top of DOS and gave you multiple logins via the serial ports. What ever happened to that?
I can understand this.
I, myself, have a desire to visit every McDonalds on the face fo the planet.
But first I have to buy a bulldozer, and a cargo plane to carry it between continents...
Is the company in dire trouble now (that being the reason for the cutbacks), or are they going to be in dire trouble soon because of such cutbacks?
It's almost certainly one or the other. If the company is hurting, an dthis is a part of across-the-board, temporary cost-cutting measures, they should say so, and you can decide how to react.
Otherwise, there's a clueless twit loose, and s/he needs to be dealt with, or your group (if not the company) is dead, dead, dead unless something changes.
As for the details in the meantime, I agree with the "Easy one" poster. It woiuld be one thing if you'd hired in under those terms. But just yanking them because the new guy has his own definition of reality? Maybe you should explain that a real CIO provides his people with the best tools for their job.
Absence per year:
At work:
~250 Linux systems: 1-2 hrs/yr
~20 Solaris systems: 1-2 hrs/yr
~25 Windows systems: 2 day/yr?
~10 Macs: 2-3 hrs/yr
Then again, we have serious firewalls, and bought a Barracuda spam/virus filter. The Linux downtime is almost all hardware-related (old, dying PS, cheap memory - yes, we're getting away from these). Mac downtime is mostly hardware, and one flaky OS9 app.
At home:
2 Linux systems: 1 day/yr
2 Win systems: 1 day/yr
Good firewalls, only the Linux systems have internet access. Linux systems are always on, Windows are on mostly when used, so guesstimate is for lost time. Down time for Linux systems is mostly trying something weird or adding hardware. About half the Windows downtime is for that.
I also have a production Linux server at a colo. It's been up 499 days, and was down for maybe 2 hours the previous year. So 1 hr/yr.
I have a good firewall for this system, too.
Lessons? Even Windows systems can show up *if* you have a secure environment and educated, trustworthy users. We have, just today, though, implemented a "no IE" policy. And without Windows, life is even easier.
(For the record, TCO/system at our site, and my house, is *much* lower for the non-Windows systems. 8^)
They could publish the list of sites that are affected... that they know of. How many dothey *not* know of yet?
The problem has a two-fold solution. One of those is securing the corporate sites. The average user can't do anything about that. The other is replacing IE. The average user *can* do that.
And, IMO, should.
Low bid does not (typically) come into play unless and until you have multiple vendors meeting the requirements, or reasonably close to the same set.
You can certainly write requirements that only one vendor can meet, or that precludes certain vendors. It happens all the time. MS obviously loves it when the reqs lock out competition; presumably they are less happy when tey get locked out.
So does this mean any and every judge would now have to recuse {her,him}self from any SCO vs Linux case due to conflict on interest?
Are any of the CLI newsreaders still around? I really miss those, and they didn't come with RH8. I have yet to find anything nearly as good. Pan is OK, but I still miss trn...
There are lots of smaller ISPs that don't differentiate between business and personal accounts. They just have 1 or 2 or N classes of service (dialup, ISDN, DSL, T1, or Poppa, Momma and Baby, or whatever). If the low end is sufficient, lots of home-based bsuinesses use it.
If you're using an account that's explicitly not for business for your business, then you deserve to get shut down.
I think the idea of shutting down accounts that send spam, even accidentally, has some merit. What would be ideal would be if you could easily set things up so when a violating account authenticated, they could only read email. That way they would have a good chance of seeing the email message you sent them explaining what had happened, why, and how it could be resolved. But that's probably too complex.
As far as businesses go, just allow businesses who expect to have legitimate needs for more than the baseline to tell you. A slight additional fee would cover the cost to modify the filter parameters for that business.
Free email accounts? Anyone using such an account for a business is just begging for touble.
--
To whomever modded my last post "troll", it was a JOKE, YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!
Was it Patton or Macarthur who said, "Shoot 'em all, and let God sort them out"? Apparently Microsoft has cloned him and he's now running Hotmail!
Games! Video games are cool, but to me ping pong and/or pool are more important. But some sort of games where you are moving around, or at least not sitting at your desk, help a great deal with fatigue, both physical and mental.
1) Let me decorate
2) Offices or cubes, just make it ergonomic
3) Aeron chairs!!!!!! They're worth every penny.
4) white boards *everywhere*
5) Geek/creative conference rooms with bean bags, couches, etc. Let the outward facing folks use standard, boring conf. rooms
6) Use natural lighting where possible, non-flourescent lighting *must* be available.
7) No, I do *not want to move*.
8) Lots of power outlets and extra data/voice jacks
9) Offices and cubes are both cool, what do *your* users prefer? Anything but a big, open area works for me.
10) Lots of desk space and shelving
11) BIG monitors and/or dual monitors for desktop systems.
12) User-friendly voice mail
13) Windows for as many folks as possible
14) All rooms must have at least one interior window to let you find people wherever they are.
15) A real kitchen
16) Enough, close by parking spaces, bike racks, etc.
"My only question is..." when will they simply include it in the OS, thereby screwing up the folks who've made life with Windows almost bearable all these years? Time after time, MS promises they won't compete with the third parties who helped them survive and thrive, but soon thereafter the new stuff shows up in the OS and the competition either finds a new market really fast, or they die.
It's all well-documented in the trade press over the years.
Did he provide anyTOS? I doubt it. Most free services are completely "at will". Without knowing all the facts, we can't address how he "should" have handled it.
While I feel for the bloggers who lost their blogs, you get what you pay for. There's an amazing amount of "I demand everything on my own terms" on the internet. IMO, that's a stupid attitude. I suppose I could take it, too, and declare that food, like {blogs,information,software,pick one} should be free, and insist you all give me food so I don't have to buy it. Would that work? I seriously doubt it. In fact, I very much hope not.
And even if you choose to offer me a hamburger today, that doesn't require you to provide me one tomorrow.
I'm responsible for feeding myself. I'm responsible for my internet connection, backups, and everything else. If I enter into a contract with someone, and they agree to provide me with thes ethings in return for money (or food, or whatever), then I'm providing for myself, and they now have a responsibility as well.
It's unclear at this point just what Mr. Winer's responsibilities are in this case, but I seriously doubt they are greater than those of the bloggers.
I hate reading right to left...
So, under the prevailing Deep Pockets Theory (``When suing, go after anyone with serious money, regardless of relevant relationship to the case''), the RIAA should include Microsoft in every one of these lawsuits.
That's one time I'd cheer for MS to win.
I have never, ever, had a single complaint about my cell phone service. Seriously. Nothing's late, no billing problems, no mis-answered questions, no problems with coverage. Nada.
Then again, I loathe cell phones, and don't have one. Since 98% of what I hear about cell phones boils down to these two things:
1) Cool faceplates, games, ringtones, etc
2) The service sucks not just raw eggs, but last year's roadkill raw eggs with salmonella and poisonous spiders crawling all over them
why on earth would I want one?
It's not just the common names that get blasted out at random. A while back I started seeing spam hiiting on random three-letter combinations-- presumably initials. But lately I've seen large blocks of *four* letter combos.
At work, we're wrapping up a 30 day trial of a Barracuda. Besides the money we're spending on the system and maintenance, I spend a half hour to an hour each day labeling mail as "spam" or "not spam" (or deciding to ignore it), checking on quarantined email, etc. And it's still better than the situation we had. Meanwhile at home, my hand-rolled deliver filter catches about 80% of the 500 to 1000 messages a day I get there.
It's mind-boggling to me that nobody at a governmental level takes this stuff seriously. It's costing everyone, and seriously cutting into productivity at every company that takes email seriously, not just ISPs.
Spam costs the USA billions of dollars last year (I have no idea of the impact other places, feel free to point to a source or drop some numbers). Obviously that diminished the quality of a lot of lives; I'd bet that you could trace deaths to it as well.
I've proposed the "spammer on a stick" approach for quite some time. I don't think it should be pikes outside an ISP, though. Treat them as the economic terrorists they are, and put their heads on poles of the White House (or replace with your country's main building name) fence.
I'd also be OK with licensing spam hunters. I'd be tempted to apply, myself.
First, how much dialogue have you had with whomever is responsible for the coffee house? Have they given you any direction on what they want or what's acceptable?
Ideally, they'd get some of the youth involved to give you ideas on the kinds of things it's likely to be used for. Then the coffee house folks can decide which of these ideas they're willing to run with (considering liability, parental ire, the neighborhood, etc.) What's desireable and acceptable is going to vary a *lot* depending on the church involved, the neighborhood, the teens, etc.
In other words, do you have any real requirements beyond, "A free computer? Yeah, that'd be neat!" This is probably going to be a non-trivial effort on someone's part (yours, at least), so you really don't want to waste effort of do anything counter-productive.
If you've done all this, great. Most people at this point have not.
I hate cell phones. And since I use my computer for more than Mahjohngg and a calendar, I want something more powerful with a bigger screen, a real keyboard, etc. Finally, the last thing any of us needs is more distractions. ``No, I didn't realize the light was red; I was playing this great new golf game and concentrating really hard on putting.''
[That's not me, because I hate cell phones *and* golf.]
This would screw over all the little guys who have patentable ideas but no way to maximize their profit. Lots of individuals and firms patent things that they sell or license to others.
A PC and a PDA are both "computing devices". Or even "eletcronic devices".
Only he didn't go far enough.
There are suckers, and then there are SuperSuckers[tm].
Where can I buy stock in this phenomenon?
Each of you needs to ask how long this will go on, and make your individual decision accordingly:
If you'll just be into this for a little while, it shouldn't be a big deal. Ask for a compromise; you'll do this for 2-3 weeks or whatever, and next month you'll go on a long weekend getaway to do what s/he wants.
If it's long term, the onus rests on the other person. They should probably get a branding iron made up that says "I'm a stupid geek with no life" and brand you on the head, butt, and a few other places. Then they should sell you on ebay as a piece of modern art, and use the money to begin a new life on the beach or wherever they would rather be.