If the internet ever gets even close to that point, it would be much easier for the DoJ to prosecute an antitrust suite. That is why I don't consider than a possibility, especially if people voice their concerns rather than support a service they don't agree with.
If you communicate with your doctor via a passport secured site, and you are concerned about being blocked, hacked etc. then perhaps you should pick up the phone and call him. Sounds like I'm trolling, but seriously - if you don't feel comfortable with a situation then avoid it. This is an avoidable situation, where for many the convenience is outweighed by the risks. If your bank uses passport, and you don't like it, then don't sign up for their online services or switch banks. It is no different than not agreeing with or feeling comfortable with the terms of service of a non-passport enabled service. If consumers who do not feel comfortable with a service continue to use the service anyway, businesses will not adapt in any way.
Of course, it looks a little different if you consider things from a business perspective. If you're a company that has 7 different login and authentication systems for their wide array of services, and you could centralize that for cost savings, wouldn't you do it? I would.
I sure would. But if i'm after cost savings, don't you think I would pick something based on open standards? I'm not just talking about open source software (which obviously has a lower purchase cost). The maintenance of open standards is much lower. If you think passport is going to play nice with those legacy applications you support, with all the platforms you maintain, etc. If you have 7 different login and authentication systems, you likely have a good variety of platforms to support. Leaving my enterprise-wide authentication in the hands of a company that likes to guarantee recurring revenue by "breaking" older versions and crippling third party players is simply not a good solution.
When I fist read your post I thought "Why would someone pay $1,800 for a 400MHz Crusoe laptop?" Then I saw the picture and description. Pretty cool! It is less of a laptop, and more of a tablet or appliance.
As an employee of a publishing company responsible for a magazine that is aimed at truckers, I can confirm the truckers are excited about satellite radio. Not only is XM a big advertiser in the trucking industry, but they have partnerships with several long-haul truck manufacturers for built-in XM receivers. I also understand the marine industry is seeing some of the action. The response at truck shows seems to be pretty strong. Some people are point out that many truckers will may not be willing to spend an extra $10 of their already limited discretionary income. But those who have driven for years say it is worth $0.30 per day when driving between cities.
In addition to the mentioned Sega Genesis sound controller, I recall seeing Zilog chips being used on many motherboards (not just computer motherboards either). The one I know off the top of my head is Sun SPARCs up to Sun 4m. They had Zilog serial controllers on them.
Exactly. The laptops can come to class for reading others' electronic submissions, interacting with a physics lab, etc. They should not be used during the lecturing part of education.
Then the teacher has to stop teaching to make sure that the students aren't typing email. Add to it the fact that the distance between the student's laptop and the teacher is large enough it is going to be really hard for most teachers to tell the difference between Outlook and Word from the front of the room. And a concave mirror only distors things. So sure, it would be obvoius if the student is playing some colorful game, but that is pretty obvious without looking at the monitor most of the time. Ulitmately, the teachers should be left to teach and not spending 90% of their class time disciplining the 10% of students who don't want to learn.
In a way yes, at least relative to the current cost per megabyte. That is why I specified machines with SDRAM. Because of tax depriciation rules and accounting practices (not to mention normal equipment attrition and growth), few companies are likely to have large installations of machines with anything less than EDO. The ones that do have much older installations likely use old legacy applications in DOS, or even VMS (or worse, VMS apps ported to DOS!).
That is true for some offices, but it's not true for all (most?) offices. Many companies use only a few applications, which usually are some kind of database interface. Think of call centers, shipping warehouses, etc. The applications are often either custom applications or created in house. Combine those core applications a basic office suite and an email client, and you cover most of the needs of many large companies. You might have a few people who still need Quark or some other specialized software. For those applications it is often more cost effective to just let those users stick to their Macs. Since you use open standards for most everything, they can still send/receive email and open PDF's.
So basically consumer oriented applications only play a small part in the office environment. It is the home environment where there is a need for the consumer applications.
Well, in an office situation the cost of supporting Linux should be as low as or lower than the cost of supporting a Windows installation. The catch is that the system architects have to take maintenance costs in to account while setting up the office infatrsucture. Ideally, the applications could run off of an NFS (or similar) mount. The $HOME files could be local or remote, though remote is ideal. The operating system could be installed remotely or locally, as well as temp files. With proper user permissions, you can restrict users from installing programs other than in their $HOME. You can even use diskspace quotas. You can do similar things with Windows, but user installed software (think AIM, Napster, ActiveX/VBS problems etc.) always seems to be a problem except in the most tightly controlled installations. A well thought out Linux installation can be almost self maintaining, except for of course resetting passwords. But you have to do that for Windows too.
With RAM prices as low as they are, any box in the workplace (read: a user's primary workstation) that uses SDRAM has little excuse for having less than 64MB of RAM. A 64MB stick of RAM and GNOME sure costs a lot less than a Windows 2000 license (which runs like a pig on anything less than 96MB).
Although Intel does not have the power to directly block 3G introduction in the USA, they have quite a bit of lobbying power. Intel uses their lobbying power to get speedy FCC approval for new technologies. The FCC isn't as moved by lobbying as say, congress, however.
Do you honestly think this would be the first time someone has had this problem? UPS is well prepared for this type of accusation. Their lawyers will kindly point out the print on every shipping form this guy filled out (which they have two copies of the triplicate). Then they will point to a similar case or two they fought to the end, where the plaintiffs lost. His lawyers will then be asked to leave. Shippers know better than to settle this kidn of case - if they did settle these case, then the cost of shipping would be much higher. Not just for settlement costs, but for their insurence.
Although I've seen several "you should have known better" postings, I disagree. Most packing guidelines are very poorly and/or ambiguously written. Just what does "adequate padding" mean? What could be more adequate than padding with several pillows, right? Wrong.
The sign in the UPS customer counters I've been to is quite clear on just how much is adequate. In fact, it specifies the number of inches of packing material that should separate the contents from the inner wall of the cardboard box. If you aren't sure if it is enough ask. If you're still not sure, then take it to a professional shipping place like Mail Boxes, Etc. and let them handle it. Sure, their packing expepertise comes at a premium, but for things like expensive electronics and heirloom china, it's worth it.
As a former shipping company employee, I have to agree. This guy screwed up big. Worst of all, if he had paid for insurance, UPS would still deny his claim. Looking at the pictures, the package clearly was packed improperly. There was insuffcient packing material between items and especially between the items and the boxes. Moving fairly boxes are strong, but when you cram a heavy CRT monitor in there with a bunch of other computer equipment you need to pad it well enough that it will stabilize.
The G4 case clearly was not stabilized and protected from potential forces subjected to the outside of the box. Take a look at the factory box your G4 came in. Same with the monitor. There are several inches of solid styrofoam padding on each side of the case, form fit to both the item and the exterior of the box. Some tightly packed packing peanuts or other packing material would have helped a lot in this case if originial packing material was missing. If the exterior of the box was damaged and packing material was falling out, UPS would have taped it back together (besides, they don't want to clean up loose packing material everywhere).
Before you make it the shipping company's fault, perhaps you should do things like read the big signs in every UPS customer counter and most other shipping outlets that give minimum packing standards. The only mistake UPS made here was not refusing the package in the first place, but that is beyond their responsibility since they cannot possibly inspect every package for proper packing.
Then the problem is not with you, it is with her. This could me she doesn't like you, or she doesn't like your work, or she just doesn't like her own life. Whatever the reason, it's either time to move on or seek marriage counseling, because something is not working out.
Several reasons why water is not commonly found in computers. One, water an electricity do no mix well. Two, it is very expensive to make the many parts required to keep water in the cooling system, keep it flowing, and still allow it to exchange the heat with air. By very expensive, I don't mean hundreds of dollars per CPU, but considering that a heatsink and fan combo are very inexpensive to manufacture...
For one, the new VM is less likely to begin killing processes or swapping randomly. Also, the new VM works in a more simple (relatively speaking) way that uses about 1/2 the swap space as the previous 2.4 VM. Like the VM system in 2.2.x kernels, having 128MB of RAM and a 128MB swap file will result in about 256MB of virtual memory available to the system. In the previous 2.4.x VM system, a computer with 128MB of RAM needed 256MB of swap space to effectively use 256MB of virtual memory.
Slashdot Mirror
If the internet ever gets even close to that point, it would be much easier for the DoJ to prosecute an antitrust suite. That is why I don't consider than a possibility, especially if people voice their concerns rather than support a service they don't agree with.
If you communicate with your doctor via a passport secured site, and you are concerned about being blocked, hacked etc. then perhaps you should pick up the phone and call him. Sounds like I'm trolling, but seriously - if you don't feel comfortable with a situation then avoid it. This is an avoidable situation, where for many the convenience is outweighed by the risks. If your bank uses passport, and you don't like it, then don't sign up for their online services or switch banks. It is no different than not agreeing with or feeling comfortable with the terms of service of a non-passport enabled service. If consumers who do not feel comfortable with a service continue to use the service anyway, businesses will not adapt in any way.
Of course, it looks a little different if you consider things from a business perspective. If you're a company that has 7 different login and authentication systems for their wide array of services, and you could centralize that for cost savings, wouldn't you do it? I would.
I sure would. But if i'm after cost savings, don't you think I would pick something based on open standards? I'm not just talking about open source software (which obviously has a lower purchase cost). The maintenance of open standards is much lower. If you think passport is going to play nice with those legacy applications you support, with all the platforms you maintain, etc. If you have 7 different login and authentication systems, you likely have a good variety of platforms to support. Leaving my enterprise-wide authentication in the hands of a company that likes to guarantee recurring revenue by "breaking" older versions and crippling third party players is simply not a good solution.
I was thinking the question should be rephrased without the "Where" - "Would you buy a Crusoe latop?"
When I fist read your post I thought "Why would someone pay $1,800 for a 400MHz Crusoe laptop?" Then I saw the picture and description. Pretty cool! It is less of a laptop, and more of a tablet or appliance.
As an employee of a publishing company responsible for a magazine that is aimed at truckers, I can confirm the truckers are excited about satellite radio. Not only is XM a big advertiser in the trucking industry, but they have partnerships with several long-haul truck manufacturers for built-in XM receivers. I also understand the marine industry is seeing some of the action. The response at truck shows seems to be pretty strong. Some people are point out that many truckers will may not be willing to spend an extra $10 of their already limited discretionary income. But those who have driven for years say it is worth $0.30 per day when driving between cities.
In addition to the mentioned Sega Genesis sound controller, I recall seeing Zilog chips being used on many motherboards (not just computer motherboards either). The one I know off the top of my head is Sun SPARCs up to Sun 4m. They had Zilog serial controllers on them.
Exactly. The laptops can come to class for reading others' electronic submissions, interacting with a physics lab, etc. They should not be used during the lecturing part of education.
Then the teacher has to stop teaching to make sure that the students aren't typing email. Add to it the fact that the distance between the student's laptop and the teacher is large enough it is going to be really hard for most teachers to tell the difference between Outlook and Word from the front of the room. And a concave mirror only distors things. So sure, it would be obvoius if the student is playing some colorful game, but that is pretty obvious without looking at the monitor most of the time. Ulitmately, the teachers should be left to teach and not spending 90% of their class time disciplining the 10% of students who don't want to learn.
I agree. I mostly meant things like Quicken and games - that shouldn't be used in a work environment (unless it is uhh a team building tournament).
In a way yes, at least relative to the current cost per megabyte. That is why I specified machines with SDRAM. Because of tax depriciation rules and accounting practices (not to mention normal equipment attrition and growth), few companies are likely to have large installations of machines with anything less than EDO. The ones that do have much older installations likely use old legacy applications in DOS, or even VMS (or worse, VMS apps ported to DOS!).
That is true for some offices, but it's not true for all (most?) offices. Many companies use only a few applications, which usually are some kind of database interface. Think of call centers, shipping warehouses, etc. The applications are often either custom applications or created in house. Combine those core applications a basic office suite and an email client, and you cover most of the needs of many large companies. You might have a few people who still need Quark or some other specialized software. For those applications it is often more cost effective to just let those users stick to their Macs. Since you use open standards for most everything, they can still send/receive email and open PDF's.
So basically consumer oriented applications only play a small part in the office environment. It is the home environment where there is a need for the consumer applications.
Well, in an office situation the cost of supporting Linux should be as low as or lower than the cost of supporting a Windows installation. The catch is that the system architects have to take maintenance costs in to account while setting up the office infatrsucture. Ideally, the applications could run off of an NFS (or similar) mount. The $HOME files could be local or remote, though remote is ideal. The operating system could be installed remotely or locally, as well as temp files. With proper user permissions, you can restrict users from installing programs other than in their $HOME. You can even use diskspace quotas. You can do similar things with Windows, but user installed software (think AIM, Napster, ActiveX/VBS problems etc.) always seems to be a problem except in the most tightly controlled installations. A well thought out Linux installation can be almost self maintaining, except for of course resetting passwords. But you have to do that for Windows too.
With RAM prices as low as they are, any box in the workplace (read: a user's primary workstation) that uses SDRAM has little excuse for having less than 64MB of RAM. A 64MB stick of RAM and GNOME sure costs a lot less than a Windows 2000 license (which runs like a pig on anything less than 96MB).
Although Intel does not have the power to directly block 3G introduction in the USA, they have quite a bit of lobbying power. Intel uses their lobbying power to get speedy FCC approval for new technologies. The FCC isn't as moved by lobbying as say, congress, however.
Not to mention the potential to take my laptop to the park and telecommute on those beautiful sunny days. It could fill the gap ricochet left behind.
Instead, pirates will think of piracy as doing Microsoft a favor by saving them $10 per copy they distribute. =P
Do you honestly think this would be the first time someone has had this problem? UPS is well prepared for this type of accusation. Their lawyers will kindly point out the print on every shipping form this guy filled out (which they have two copies of the triplicate). Then they will point to a similar case or two they fought to the end, where the plaintiffs lost. His lawyers will then be asked to leave. Shippers know better than to settle this kidn of case - if they did settle these case, then the cost of shipping would be much higher. Not just for settlement costs, but for their insurence.
Although I've seen several "you should have known better" postings, I disagree. Most packing guidelines are very poorly and/or ambiguously written. Just what does "adequate padding" mean? What could be more adequate than padding with several pillows, right? Wrong.
The sign in the UPS customer counters I've been to is quite clear on just how much is adequate. In fact, it specifies the number of inches of packing material that should separate the contents from the inner wall of the cardboard box. If you aren't sure if it is enough ask. If you're still not sure, then take it to a professional shipping place like Mail Boxes, Etc. and let them handle it. Sure, their packing expepertise comes at a premium, but for things like expensive electronics and heirloom china, it's worth it.
But hindsight is 20/20.
As a former shipping company employee, I have to agree. This guy screwed up big. Worst of all, if he had paid for insurance, UPS would still deny his claim. Looking at the pictures, the package clearly was packed improperly. There was insuffcient packing material between items and especially between the items and the boxes. Moving fairly boxes are strong, but when you cram a heavy CRT monitor in there with a bunch of other computer equipment you need to pad it well enough that it will stabilize.
The G4 case clearly was not stabilized and protected from potential forces subjected to the outside of the box. Take a look at the factory box your G4 came in. Same with the monitor. There are several inches of solid styrofoam padding on each side of the case, form fit to both the item and the exterior of the box. Some tightly packed packing peanuts or other packing material would have helped a lot in this case if originial packing material was missing. If the exterior of the box was damaged and packing material was falling out, UPS would have taped it back together (besides, they don't want to clean up loose packing material everywhere).
Before you make it the shipping company's fault, perhaps you should do things like read the big signs in every UPS customer counter and most other shipping outlets that give minimum packing standards. The only mistake UPS made here was not refusing the package in the first place, but that is beyond their responsibility since they cannot possibly inspect every package for proper packing.
Then the problem is not with you, it is with her. This could me she doesn't like you, or she doesn't like your work, or she just doesn't like her own life. Whatever the reason, it's either time to move on or seek marriage counseling, because something is not working out.
Several reasons why water is not commonly found in computers. One, water an electricity do no mix well. Two, it is very expensive to make the many parts required to keep water in the cooling system, keep it flowing, and still allow it to exchange the heat with air. By very expensive, I don't mean hundreds of dollars per CPU, but considering that a heatsink and fan combo are very inexpensive to manufacture...
For one, the new VM is less likely to begin killing processes or swapping randomly. Also, the new VM works in a more simple (relatively speaking) way that uses about 1/2 the swap space as the previous 2.4 VM. Like the VM system in 2.2.x kernels, having 128MB of RAM and a 128MB swap file will result in about 256MB of virtual memory available to the system. In the previous 2.4.x VM system, a computer with 128MB of RAM needed 256MB of swap space to effectively use 256MB of virtual memory.
Said just like someone who doesn't have an MBA and is jealous of the MBA graduate's salary.
Reading some of those thick books requires an NP algorithm.