Since I have to run Office at work, I had to run it in VMWare. I just bought Crossover office and it is an impressive piece of code. The installation was without the slightest problems. It simulates Windows Drives, etc. and the installer manages simulated reboots for the Office installer and so on.
KDE is making great progress and KOffice is a nice attempt. But as long as I have to share Office documents with customers etc., there's no way around M$. This software is more than worth its 55$.
This makes me wonder: How long will it take until Wine supports this stuff "out of the box"?
Microsoft expects to lose money on its XBox hardware, but make it back with services such as online multiplayer game networks.
To me that sounds like price dumping. Ship the thing below the competitor's price to get the
market share, no matter if the price covers the
costs or not. That's Microsoft as we know it.
> Now, I'm no fan of the tenets of CoS. But things like this coming from the German government also give me pause. I mentally replace "Scientologist" with "Jew" and I see something that could have happened 50 years ago if we had a software industry...
Ironically, that is the reason why Germans are very careful about organizations like scientology. Scientology's beliefs (which include reigning the world) are triggering the German government to act in order to PREVENT the same thing from happening again in Germany under the disguise of an organization.
In Germany, Scientology is under surveillance because it has engaged in criminal activity. It is regarded as a dangerous cult and not a church. While religious freedom is taken very seriously in Germany, cults are recognized to be a great danger.
A while ago, scientology ran a worldwide campaign with page-size newspaper ads, accusing the German government of prosecuting them like the Jews. This caused a great outrage among Jews living in Germany, even Ignaz Bubis, the former chairman of the jewish council.
It scares me that an organization such as scientology still has so much acceptance as being legitimate, especially in the U.S.
Inmarsat announced a GAN solution on their website:
http://www.inmarsat.com/gan/staynet.html
It supposedly offers 64kbps ISDN speed from a device which weighs 4kg and is about the size of a notebook. This is from their website: The mobile satellite communications units needed to access the Inmarsat Global Area Network are small, completely portable and simple to operate. To link into the network, no matter where you are, all you need to do is switch on the unit, orientate the antenna in the general direction of an Inmarsat satellite, plug in your pc, and go.
I just downloaded and installed both the Windows and Linux versions.
The Windows version installs itself from a 200k SmartUpdate agent. It worked pretty good, the installation can be customized. Netscape 6 was really fast on the NT machine. SSL did not work with my homebanking site, but I think this is due to a known bug in the PSM that has to do with the pathname. The Windows version still lacks S/MIME support, which I need for work. Java worked great, it seems as if they integrated jdk1.3 (at least that is what the filename says). Import filters for Outlook mail, addresses and IE bookmarks (:) ) are included.
Now the linux version:
It is not much more than what you get from the daily builds. No smart installer, just the regular tar package. Java support is (of course) missing. S/MIME is not included either and SSL has the same problems with my homebanking site. The certificates can be imported but not used for email.
It is VERY slow on my AMD K6-2 400. Netscape 4.7 is A LOT faster.
The linux version lacks many of the import filters that the Windows version offers. There is still no "open bookmark file" menu item:).
Both versions include a built in AIM.
Little but useful features such as autocompletion of the location bar are missing in both versions.
The Windows version makes a pretty stable and rather complete impression, the Linux version is pretty disappointing.
I just downloaded Redhat 6.2 and I am very disappointed. There is no significant new feature. I am waiting for SuSE 6.4 now, which should come out any minute. At least they have an optinal XFree 4 with configuration tool included...
Hopefully SuSE puts their distro on the ftp servers right away this time.
If I read the articles correctly, this is only the streaming AUDIO format (WMA), not MS's streaming video format.
Quote from CNet article: Microsoft said today that RealNetworks and several other major Internet companies, including Yahoo, have agreed to license its Windows Media audio format.
I agree that new technology will bring new threats. However, I do not think that this will be in the form of robots taking over or the like.
Technology has brought us gadgets which enable few people to make big damage. Other than in previous centuries, where an army of thousands was needed to cause great damage, it is now possible for (theoretically) a single person to blast away an entire city.
If innovation continues at this pace, especially in military equipment, it is very obvious that in 20 years it will not be entirely difficult for an average smart individual to purchase the parts and aquire the knowledge to build a disasterous bomb.
This could be a bomb with the firepower of an atomic missile. It is only a matter of time until easy ways of producing an atomic bomb are found. Currently it might seem quite difficult to build an atomic bomb (even though some people claim it is simple, I think this is exaggerated quie a bit). But history has shown that not much can stop the speed of technological development. I am concerned about a world were weapons of mass distruction can one day fall into the hands of few people or even a single individual. It takes much less for one person to do something regretful, that it does for an entire army.
I know this sounds pessimistic, but isn't there some danger here? Any comments?
I agree that the anonymous poster went a little overboard in his/her language, and that being anonymous probably emboldened him (yes, i'm sure it's a male), but he has a certain point.
I am sorry, but I do not see what point you mean.
OK, so it may be a cynical viewpoint, but just because we're geeks doesn't entitle us to be ignorant about the way that things that interest us become news items. The story and the movie are not coincidental. The story would not have been run but for the movie.
That being said, you are correct that NASA has public relations concerns which can affect the timing of their announcements... if they want funding, publicity helps, and piggy-backing a release on a big Hollywood movie can't hurt.
The CEO of election.com Joe Mohen has just been on CNN a minute ago.
He claimed that it gave people more choices, especially people with disablities.
It was interesting information that election.com is a FOR-PROFIT company. It does legal binding votings since about a year, not only in the U.S., but also in Europe. Most of these votings were for companies.
I personally am a little sceptical about a for-profit company collecting votes in a democracy.
> Do you want to order a book from Amazon after going 19 levels deep in a text menu, typing your credit card number and address on a numeric keypad? gimme a break.
Am I the only one that ever purchased a book at amazon.com using a web phone?
Well, the only reason I did it was so that I can tell my kids later in life I was one of the first:)
Anyway, if you have an amazon account and you are stupid enough to have "one-click" ordering enabled, it actually works pretty easily.
This is nothing new. I have a Sprint PCS Phone (Samsung 3500, great phone!) and I wrote a little perl script which checks my IMAP mail. While doing that I found lots of resources at phone.com. They have example perl scripts included in their development tools which show you everything your phone gives away.
(If there is interest in the IMAP mail checking script for HDML phones, let me know.)
Even though I think you should get your a$$ wipped for your choice of words, I try to explain my point a little better to you. Comments like this make me wish that anonymous posts will be banned.
I am not talking about some kind of "conspiracy / cover-up". If you want that, go to blockbuster and rent a movie.
NASA's funding is declining more and more and the days were billions were spent on Moon missions are over. Of course, NASA needs good PR in order to keep interest alive. It does not need a secret cover-up to make the decision to release a news story at the right time. That is, at the same time as Mars gets lots of media attention - may that be due to a movie release.
This is not the first time this has happened and it is for sure not a crime - its just obvious and understandable.
I agree that this is not a tremendously important news release and that it might as well be a pure conicidence this time.
This is another good example of waiting for the right time to release information.
It is very obvious that this is no coincidence, but I am not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. Trying to manipulate people to get attention is a bad thing. Trying to advertise science is a good thing. I guess this is a little bit of both. All I hope is that this information is not "modified" to sound more interesting.
This fits into the same category as sending old Senators to space and finding rocks form Mars which supposedly contain microbes.
Re:Copy of note to Motorala
on
R.I.P. Iridium
·
· Score: 1
You miss one very important point. The reason Iridium is going out of business is that they cost more to operate than $100. If you plan to just look at them and wait until they fall down, and that spectacle would be worth $100 to you, then go ahead with your offer. I can assure you, if there is a real use for these sattelites that will drive in more revenue than the costs for keeping them running, someone will come up with a substantial sum and get them.
Slashdot Mirror
s/Good by/Good bye/g
:)
Should have clicked on "Preview"
Since I have to run Office at work, I had to run it in VMWare. I just bought Crossover office and it is an impressive piece of code. The installation was without the slightest problems. It simulates Windows Drives, etc. and the installer manages simulated reboots for the Office installer and so on.
KDE is making great progress and KOffice is a nice attempt. But as long as I have to share Office documents with customers etc., there's no way around M$. This software is more than worth its 55$.
This makes me wonder: How long will it take until Wine supports this stuff "out of the box"?
Microsoft expects to lose money on its XBox hardware, but make it back with services such as online multiplayer game networks. To me that sounds like price dumping. Ship the thing below the competitor's price to get the market share, no matter if the price covers the costs or not. That's Microsoft as we know it.
> Now, I'm no fan of the tenets of CoS. But things like this coming from the German government also give me pause. I mentally replace "Scientologist" with "Jew" and I see something that could have happened 50 years ago if we had a software industry ...
Ironically, that is the reason why Germans are very careful about organizations like scientology. Scientology's beliefs (which include reigning the world) are triggering the German government to act in order to PREVENT the same thing from happening again in Germany under the disguise of an organization.
In Germany, Scientology is under surveillance because it has engaged in criminal activity. It is regarded as a dangerous cult and not a church. While religious freedom is taken very seriously in Germany, cults are recognized to be a great danger.
A while ago, scientology ran a worldwide campaign with page-size newspaper ads, accusing the German government of prosecuting them like the Jews. This caused a great outrage among Jews living in Germany, even Ignaz Bubis, the former chairman of the jewish council.
It scares me that an organization such as scientology still has so much acceptance as being legitimate, especially in the U.S.
Inmarsat announced a GAN solution on their website:
http://www.inmarsat.com/gan/staynet.html
It supposedly offers 64kbps ISDN speed from a device which weighs 4kg and is about the size of a notebook.
This is from their website:
The mobile satellite communications units needed to access the Inmarsat Global Area Network
are small, completely portable and simple to operate. To link into the network, no matter where
you are, all you need to do is switch on the unit, orientate the antenna in the general direction of
an Inmarsat satellite, plug in your pc, and go.
I just downloaded and installed both the Windows and Linux versions.
:) ) are included.
:).
The Windows version installs itself from a 200k SmartUpdate agent. It worked pretty good, the installation can be customized.
Netscape 6 was really fast on the NT machine.
SSL did not work with my homebanking site, but I think this is due to a known bug in the PSM that has to do with the pathname.
The Windows version still lacks S/MIME support, which I need for work.
Java worked great, it seems as if they integrated jdk1.3 (at least that is what the filename says).
Import filters for Outlook mail, addresses and IE bookmarks (
Now the linux version:
It is not much more than what you get from the daily builds.
No smart installer, just the regular tar package.
Java support is (of course) missing.
S/MIME is not included either and SSL has the same problems with my homebanking site.
The certificates can be imported but not used for email.
It is VERY slow on my AMD K6-2 400. Netscape 4.7 is A LOT faster.
The linux version lacks many of the import filters that the Windows version offers. There is still no "open bookmark file" menu item
Both versions include a built in AIM.
Little but useful features such as autocompletion of the location bar are missing in both versions.
The Windows version makes a pretty stable and rather complete impression, the Linux version is pretty disappointing.
A linux console client that works fairly well can be downloaded here:
http://www.umr.edu/~jjp/
I think slashdot only announced that it will be released soon, just like they did with redhat. Noe SuSE is actually available (on CD).
Sorry for two posts in a row but I just saw on the German suse website SuSE.de that SuSE 6.4 has been released on CDROM.
I just downloaded Redhat 6.2 and I am very disappointed. There is no significant new feature. I am waiting for SuSE 6.4 now, which should come out any minute. At least they have an optinal XFree 4 with configuration tool included...
Hopefully SuSE puts their distro on the ftp servers right away this time.
Using the basic concept of supply and demand:
Prices (also called salaries) for highly skilled tech workers are high.
When prices are high, quantity demanded is high.
Therefore we have a great demand for highly skilled workers.
We would have a shortage if demand would exceed the supply of highly skilled IT workers.
But the mechanism called market price will keep us from getting a shortage. This is the reason for high wages.
Only if wages would be too low, there would be a shortage.
Shortage is the wrong term. However, we definitely have a very high demand.
If I read the articles correctly, this is only
the streaming AUDIO format (WMA), not MS's streaming video format.
Quote from CNet article:
Microsoft said today that RealNetworks and several other major Internet companies, including Yahoo, have agreed to license its Windows Media audio format.
They never mention the video format.
I agree that new technology will bring new threats. However, I do not think that this will be in the form of robots taking over or the like.
Technology has brought us gadgets which enable few people to make big damage. Other than in previous centuries, where an army of thousands was needed to cause great damage, it is now possible for (theoretically) a single person to blast away an entire city.
If innovation continues at this pace, especially in military equipment, it is very obvious that in 20 years it will not be entirely difficult for an average smart individual to purchase the parts and aquire the knowledge to build a disasterous bomb.
This could be a bomb with the firepower of an atomic missile. It is only a matter of time until easy ways of producing an atomic bomb are found. Currently it might seem quite difficult to build an atomic bomb (even though some people claim it is simple, I think this is exaggerated quie a bit).
But history has shown that not much can stop the speed of technological development. I am concerned about a world were weapons of mass distruction can one day fall into the hands of few people or even a single individual. It takes much less for one person to do something regretful, that it does for an entire army.
I know this sounds pessimistic, but isn't there some danger here? Any comments?
I agree that the anonymous poster went a little overboard in his/her language, and that being anonymous probably emboldened him (yes, i'm sure it's a male), but he has a certain point.
I am sorry, but I do not see what point you mean.
OK, so it may be a cynical viewpoint, but just because we're geeks doesn't entitle us to be ignorant about the way that things that interest us become news items. The story and the movie are not coincidental. The story would not have been run but for the movie.
That being said, you are correct that NASA has public relations concerns which can affect the timing of their announcements... if they want funding, publicity helps, and piggy-backing a release on a big Hollywood movie can't hurt.
Exactly my point.
The CEO of election.com Joe Mohen has just been on CNN a minute ago.
He claimed that it gave people more choices, especially people with disablities.
It was interesting information that election.com is a FOR-PROFIT company. It does legal binding votings since about a year, not only in the U.S., but also in Europe. Most of these votings were for companies.
I personally am a little sceptical about a for-profit company collecting votes in a democracy.
> Do you want to order a book from Amazon after going 19 levels deep in a text menu, typing your credit card number and address on a numeric keypad? gimme a break.
:)
Am I the only one that ever purchased a book at amazon.com using a web phone?
Well, the only reason I did it was so that I can tell my kids later in life I was one of the first
Anyway, if you have an amazon account and you are stupid enough to have "one-click" ordering enabled, it actually works pretty easily.
This is nothing new. I have a Sprint PCS Phone (Samsung 3500, great phone!) and I wrote a little perl script which checks my IMAP mail. While doing that I found lots of resources at phone.com. They have example perl scripts included in their development tools which show you everything your phone gives away.
(If there is interest in the IMAP mail checking script for HDML phones, let me know.)
Even though I think you should get your a$$ wipped for your choice of words, I try to explain my point a little better to you. Comments like this make me wish that anonymous posts will be banned.
I am not talking about some kind of "conspiracy / cover-up". If you want that, go to blockbuster and rent a movie.
NASA's funding is declining more and more and the days were billions were spent on Moon missions are over. Of course, NASA needs good PR in order to keep interest alive. It does not need a secret cover-up to make the decision to release a news story at the right time. That is, at the same time as Mars gets lots of media attention - may that be due to a movie release.
This is not the first time this has happened and it is for sure not a crime - its just obvious and understandable.
I agree that this is not a tremendously important news release and that it might as well be a pure conicidence this time.
This is another good example of waiting for the right time to release information.
It is very obvious that this is no coincidence, but I am not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. Trying to manipulate people to get attention is a bad thing. Trying to advertise science is a good thing. I guess this is a little bit of both. All I hope is that this information is not "modified" to sound more interesting.
This fits into the same category as sending old Senators to space and finding rocks form Mars which supposedly contain microbes.
You miss one very important point. The reason Iridium is going out of business is that they
cost more to operate than $100.
If you plan to just look at them and wait until they fall down, and that spectacle would be worth $100 to you, then go ahead with your offer.
I can assure you, if there is a real use for these sattelites that will drive in more revenue than the costs for keeping them running, someone will come up with a substantial sum and get them.