One only needs to point to the BP disaster for a demonstration of the attitude of companies these days. If you can do it and not get arrested then it is right. The only difference between the oil industry and pirates is that the oil industry has the resources to bend the law to be favorable to them. I think it has become indisputable that 'legitimate corporations' will do anything they can to make a lot of bucks.
And so, I'm sorry but until I see a difference of attitude in private enterprise, until they stand up to the qualities that they profess law or not, I will continue to applaud those 'pirates' who use their resourcefulness to provide a product in a better way and profit from it. For they will never hurt me as much as BP has. They will never kill as many livelihoods as BP has. Add to that the whole wall-street fiasco.
I'm tired of hearing about the law, because corporate law has become a washed out, bought out joke that only helps profits of the powerful.
I sent Amazon a nasty letter because I started receiving email about items that I had merely *clicked* on. To me this seems a little too much, and it's exactly the same as a brick and mortar store having a sales person ask who you are when entering the store and then follow you through the aisles as you browse. I asked them to stop and they didn't even have a flag they could set in my profile. Instead, they 'advised' me not to sign into their site.
No? Turned sideways? Laying on it's side? Still no room? I'd be inclined to run longer cables (in fact I did), rather than get a mini-system to fit in a cramped space.
Nope, it's on top of two side by side IKEA wordrobes. The TV is in the middle on the edges so it's fine but they are filling an indent in the wall exactly, making a cubby-hole at the top. No place to put something the size and weight of a full PC.
The larger the case, the better your chances of making it quiet, NOT the other way around.
*shrug* My $300 acer revo is absolutely silent and low power. A fan is not even required with an atom although I think it has one. I'd have a hard time putting something together that quiet. An absolutely silent PSU, CPU fan, and case fan would probably run around $180 alone. Plus there are no guarantees how silent it actually is until it's put together and then a lot of shops around here won't take it back.
I think it depends on the situation. I live in a fairly big house and I have two systems with XBMC on them. My basement is open and there is lots of free space so I have a normal mid-tower with a mini-ATX board. However, I have a 40" TV sitting in a space pretty much just the right size for it. My acer revo sits in there nicely; there is no room for a full size PC.
Also sound is a concern. the PC is louder with the fans but I have a louder sound system downstairs to compensate. I prefer having the silent revo upstairs.
Plus my kids don't have celphones, many calls are for either myself OR my wife, whomever is there to answer. We have four wireless phone handsets around our home but only one celphone each. I really don't get how celphones only are supposed to work for a home with a family.
As more people group together, humans make dumber choices more based on emotion then anything else. Thus I think social networking sites are a terrible thing for humanity.
I think it *can* be a good thing. The Encyclopedia of Life seems to be shaping up well. Wikipedia I think has been neutral. But more often to not people use things like Facebook which is nothing but a waste of time.
I'm also of the mode of thought that using an iPad would be uncomfortable on a plane. The problem is that it is not held like a book. I use my netbook (which gets 10+ hours battery) on the bus and when I rotate the screen I hold it truly like a book, resting it on my lap or whatever and using the pad with my thumb.
I saw a guy on the bus with an iPad and he looked uncomfortable because there was no way for it to sit nicely. On a plane I wonder where the iPad would stand up even if in a case. Those tray tables just aren't big enough to have something that size sitting upright and it's not even with your eyes either.
They could give these devices away as part of packaged deals to corporations with EDS created applications and have enough market share to make developers interested in creating apps.
Even in shops that I have worked in where there was an attempt at high security at a network level, there are other events that occur for the admins to do their job that undermines said security such as using portable media, shared user IDs. This because security has only been done to the extent that it will cost no more money where a complete infrastructure of servers should have been put in place to allow people to work in the environment; safe staging servers and the like. Furthermore I see less 'security robust' operating systems replacing ones that are more secure because they are easier and cheaper to administer. Developers and admins complain because an operating system like Solaris or AIX are basically nothing but a kernel and therefore require more time and effort compared to a swiss army knife such as Red Hat. Sure, one could strip down a Red Hat install to the bare essentials but again, no one is allowed to take the time. Don't even get me started on the negatives of offshoring.
Companies have never, ever, invested enough in IT. They want servers to be quick, easy, and as cheap as possible. Until companies recognize the level of investment required in hardware and people to make an environment truly secure we will continue to be reactive.
Just a quick comment.. I'm an 'it pro' (read as living it day in and day out) and I live in a home with several windows machines (laptops and standalone) and several linux (virtual guests mostly but also native) and a macbook which we won. So it gives me an interesting perspective I think.
We also have two iPod touches (one I purchased and one was won with the macbook). My wife uses computers quite extensively as well and we have a six year old daughter.
In my opinion the mac would work ok if we were a one computer house with one iPod. From my perspective this is light duty for a system but that would be ok I think. I find as soon as I try doing anything to make the macbook it fails. If I try to import large amounts of music off the network in the house iTunes can hang for example. There is no progress bar, just the pinwheel. Many times I have had to kill it but was never sure if it was doing anything or not. One difference I find between windows and os/x is that at least apps on windows will show you progress or die if there is a problem. On OS/X I find you get that colored pinwheel cursor and don't know what is going on and yes considering how often I use each OS it happens more on OS/X. I feel like robustness was sacrificed to make the GUI thin and pretty and the novelty of the beauty of the OS has worn off by now. I almost feel like I'm using the iPod touch with its feather-weight OS when I am using OS/X.
I don't use my iPods any more because I don't fit into the 'sync with one library' methodology; I just want to copy files. My daughter listens to light music at night and we found that it would hang every night without fail if we didn't reboot it every day. Also I find the software selection is lacking unless you want to pay for everything, whereas I don't have a problem finding free alternatives to commercial software for Windows if I need it. Considering I have put so much free stuff on my windows machines are doing remarkably well and the mac is not.
All in all, the macbook has not been playing nice in our house. You set the services up on linix and windows and they work as advertised. If the services allow the machines to play nice they will. The mac is the hardest to make play nice. Its one saving grace is that it has BSD underneath (SSH and rsync work properly) but that is pretty hacked and i'm alittle afraid to touch it too much even though I am a unix admin by trade.
My girl loves the mac. She's six and it does what she needs it to do. My wife does not care for it. I asked her just now what she does not like about it and she says it's little things in the GUI such as opera not selecting the address bar automatically like in firefox and IE. In other words she finds the gui generally frustrating. I am also not a fan of the single menu bar at the top of the screen. It seems that was done for 'cool factor' but it is not as usable. If I am using a window my eyes should not have to trace up to the top of the screen. I should be able to do everything in that window.
I don't know.. I got a Windows 7 PC a little while ago and I love it a lot better. Nothing has crashed on it yet and I am confident when it does, it will be something I got for free.
That's why I bought my netbook. On the bus I hold it like a book and use the pad with my thumb, it is much more comfortable that way if there is someone sitting next to me.
I do that sitting around too but I use a netbook or a laptop (netbook mostly for on the bus).. i* devices are usually out for me because I want to do silly things like surf and watch a video at the same time all with the 10 hour battery life and lightness of a netbook, and I like the freedom of a normal copy across my network instead of a plug and sync.
Normal computers must look really bad to people that they don't want to use them.. I guess I've never been a part of that world. I've been lying on a couch with my full-sized laptop all day and I'm perfectly comfortable...
I guess we will see. If these devices do remain something that is a niche then I do have no problem with it. You are perfectly right; I won't buy them. Instead I will buy the next device that comes out that does exactly what I want it to do.
My fear though is that companies (which tend to do what the masses want and go where the money is) start to put all their energy into creating devices like this and forsake all the more complex things that devices *could* do. My fear is that suddenly the tech industry becomes all about you tube, facebook, etc and does not strive for anything more.
Already the next version of Ubuntu seems to be all about these things. I care not about them. So I am being affected by it. There is only so much room in the market places for these devices.. Where are the ones that the technical people want?
If you're dealing with 'files' and 'processes' when you start your web browser then you're doing it way wrong. I start my system and double click on the big blue 'e' or the little picture of the flaming fox and I'm on my way.
Really, people make too big a deal out of the complexities of simple tasks on normal operating systems. It's not really that hard to start a browser.
This seems more like a device which is intended to be used differently from your existing devices, and quite possibly in conjunction with them
It would be great if these devices worked in conjunction with the other devices in my home, but the sad fact is the more 'curated' they are, the less able they are to do so. My iPod touch talks to one machine at a time in my home, I need to be physically connected to that machine, and I need to use a specific application on that machine. That's it! How boring.
Sure if I want to I can load an app that uses some anonymous server that is in some anonymous location as long as it is approved by Apple but if I want to use all the machines in my home I can forget it. Frankly I think it is an absolutely abhorrent development to computing and it is about a dozen steps back.
That's so funny. It's these same apple fanbois that, when discussing wireless syncing, cannot BELIEVE that anyone in their right mind would use anything other then the provided USB cable to charge their iPhone or want to sync with more then one system.
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Doesn't this describe /. in general, on any given topic of discussion? You're a bit generous on the 'average' part.
One only needs to point to the BP disaster for a demonstration of the attitude of companies these days. If you can do it and not get arrested then it is right. The only difference between the oil industry and pirates is that the oil industry has the resources to bend the law to be favorable to them. I think it has become indisputable that 'legitimate corporations' will do anything they can to make a lot of bucks.
And so, I'm sorry but until I see a difference of attitude in private enterprise, until they stand up to the qualities that they profess law or not, I will continue to applaud those 'pirates' who use their resourcefulness to provide a product in a better way and profit from it. For they will never hurt me as much as BP has. They will never kill as many livelihoods as BP has. Add to that the whole wall-street fiasco.
I'm tired of hearing about the law, because corporate law has become a washed out, bought out joke that only helps profits of the powerful.
Why chose this as a server over any other x86 machine and linux at a quarter of the price?
Sorry not putting much effort into this post but REALLY..
I sent Amazon a nasty letter because I started receiving email about items that I had merely *clicked* on. To me this seems a little too much, and it's exactly the same as a brick and mortar store having a sales person ask who you are when entering the store and then follow you through the aisles as you browse. I asked them to stop and they didn't even have a flag they could set in my profile. Instead, they 'advised' me not to sign into their site.
Thank you for bringing to my attention yet one more downside to having identical twins!
No? Turned sideways? Laying on it's side? Still no room? I'd be inclined to run longer cables (in fact I did), rather than get a mini-system to fit in a cramped space.
Nope, it's on top of two side by side IKEA wordrobes. The TV is in the middle on the edges so it's fine but they are filling an indent in the wall exactly, making a cubby-hole at the top. No place to put something the size and weight of a full PC.
The larger the case, the better your chances of making it quiet, NOT the other way around.
*shrug* My $300 acer revo is absolutely silent and low power. A fan is not even required with an atom although I think it has one. I'd have a hard time putting something together that quiet. An absolutely silent PSU, CPU fan, and case fan would probably run around $180 alone. Plus there are no guarantees how silent it actually is until it's put together and then a lot of shops around here won't take it back.
I think it depends on the situation. I live in a fairly big house and I have two systems with XBMC on them. My basement is open and there is lots of free space so I have a normal mid-tower with a mini-ATX board. However, I have a 40" TV sitting in a space pretty much just the right size for it. My acer revo sits in there nicely; there is no room for a full size PC.
Also sound is a concern. the PC is louder with the fans but I have a louder sound system downstairs to compensate. I prefer having the silent revo upstairs.
Plus my kids don't have celphones, many calls are for either myself OR my wife, whomever is there to answer. We have four wireless phone handsets around our home but only one celphone each. I really don't get how celphones only are supposed to work for a home with a family.
As more people group together, humans make dumber choices more based on emotion then anything else. Thus I think social networking sites are a terrible thing for humanity.
I think it *can* be a good thing. The Encyclopedia of Life seems to be shaping up well. Wikipedia I think has been neutral. But more often to not people use things like Facebook which is nothing but a waste of time.
I'm also of the mode of thought that using an iPad would be uncomfortable on a plane. The problem is that it is not held like a book. I use my netbook (which gets 10+ hours battery) on the bus and when I rotate the screen I hold it truly like a book, resting it on my lap or whatever and using the pad with my thumb.
I saw a guy on the bus with an iPad and he looked uncomfortable because there was no way for it to sit nicely. On a plane I wonder where the iPad would stand up even if in a case. Those tray tables just aren't big enough to have something that size sitting upright and it's not even with your eyes either.
I'd also like to add to this.. Let me watch it on any device (ie. TV / computer) of my choice as many times as I want.
..that HP/EDS/Palm is a TITAN compared to Apple.
They could give these devices away as part of packaged deals to corporations with EDS created applications and have enough market share to make developers interested in creating apps.
It will be interesting. My money is on HP.
Even in shops that I have worked in where there was an attempt at high security at a network level, there are other events that occur for the admins to do their job that undermines said security such as using portable media, shared user IDs. This because security has only been done to the extent that it will cost no more money where a complete infrastructure of servers should have been put in place to allow people to work in the environment; safe staging servers and the like. Furthermore I see less 'security robust' operating systems replacing ones that are more secure because they are easier and cheaper to administer. Developers and admins complain because an operating system like Solaris or AIX are basically nothing but a kernel and therefore require more time and effort compared to a swiss army knife such as Red Hat. Sure, one could strip down a Red Hat install to the bare essentials but again, no one is allowed to take the time. Don't even get me started on the negatives of offshoring.
Companies have never, ever, invested enough in IT. They want servers to be quick, easy, and as cheap as possible. Until companies recognize the level of investment required in hardware and people to make an environment truly secure we will continue to be reactive.
Just a quick comment.. I'm an 'it pro' (read as living it day in and day out) and I live in a home with several windows machines (laptops and standalone) and several linux (virtual guests mostly but also native) and a macbook which we won. So it gives me an interesting perspective I think.
We also have two iPod touches (one I purchased and one was won with the macbook). My wife uses computers quite extensively as well and we have a six year old daughter.
In my opinion the mac would work ok if we were a one computer house with one iPod. From my perspective this is light duty for a system but that would be ok I think. I find as soon as I try doing anything to make the macbook it fails. If I try to import large amounts of music off the network in the house iTunes can hang for example. There is no progress bar, just the pinwheel. Many times I have had to kill it but was never sure if it was doing anything or not. One difference I find between windows and os/x is that at least apps on windows will show you progress or die if there is a problem. On OS/X I find you get that colored pinwheel cursor and don't know what is going on and yes considering how often I use each OS it happens more on OS/X. I feel like robustness was sacrificed to make the GUI thin and pretty and the novelty of the beauty of the OS has worn off by now. I almost feel like I'm using the iPod touch with its feather-weight OS when I am using OS/X.
I don't use my iPods any more because I don't fit into the 'sync with one library' methodology; I just want to copy files. My daughter listens to light music at night and we found that it would hang every night without fail if we didn't reboot it every day. Also I find the software selection is lacking unless you want to pay for everything, whereas I don't have a problem finding free alternatives to commercial software for Windows if I need it. Considering I have put so much free stuff on my windows machines are doing remarkably well and the mac is not.
All in all, the macbook has not been playing nice in our house. You set the services up on linix and windows and they work as advertised. If the services allow the machines to play nice they will. The mac is the hardest to make play nice. Its one saving grace is that it has BSD underneath (SSH and rsync work properly) but that is pretty hacked and i'm alittle afraid to touch it too much even though I am a unix admin by trade.
My girl loves the mac. She's six and it does what she needs it to do. My wife does not care for it. I asked her just now what she does not like about it and she says it's little things in the GUI such as opera not selecting the address bar automatically like in firefox and IE. In other words she finds the gui generally frustrating. I am also not a fan of the single menu bar at the top of the screen. It seems that was done for 'cool factor' but it is not as usable. If I am using a window my eyes should not have to trace up to the top of the screen. I should be able to do everything in that window.
I don't know.. I got a Windows 7 PC a little while ago and I love it a lot better. Nothing has crashed on it yet and I am confident when it does, it will be something I got for free.
Look how much money Britney Spears makes.. Same thing.
That's why I bought my netbook. On the bus I hold it like a book and use the pad with my thumb, it is much more comfortable that way if there is someone sitting next to me.
I do that sitting around too but I use a netbook or a laptop (netbook mostly for on the bus).. i* devices are usually out for me because I want to do silly things like surf and watch a video at the same time all with the 10 hour battery life and lightness of a netbook, and I like the freedom of a normal copy across my network instead of a plug and sync.
Normal computers must look really bad to people that they don't want to use them.. I guess I've never been a part of that world. I've been lying on a couch with my full-sized laptop all day and I'm perfectly comfortable...
I guess we will see. If these devices do remain something that is a niche then I do have no problem with it. You are perfectly right; I won't buy them. Instead I will buy the next device that comes out that does exactly what I want it to do.
My fear though is that companies (which tend to do what the masses want and go where the money is) start to put all their energy into creating devices like this and forsake all the more complex things that devices *could* do. My fear is that suddenly the tech industry becomes all about you tube, facebook, etc and does not strive for anything more.
Already the next version of Ubuntu seems to be all about these things. I care not about them. So I am being affected by it. There is only so much room in the market places for these devices.. Where are the ones that the technical people want?
If you're dealing with 'files' and 'processes' when you start your web browser then you're doing it way wrong. I start my system and double click on the big blue 'e' or the little picture of the flaming fox and I'm on my way.
Really, people make too big a deal out of the complexities of simple tasks on normal operating systems. It's not really that hard to start a browser.
But does your nagios site run on an iPhone? I think that is the point.
I'd mod you up if I could. Basically the iPad/iPod/iPhone is a *really* advanced universal remote for the internet.
This seems more like a device which is intended to be used differently from your existing devices, and quite possibly in conjunction with them
It would be great if these devices worked in conjunction with the other devices in my home, but the sad fact is the more 'curated' they are, the less able they are to do so. My iPod touch talks to one machine at a time in my home, I need to be physically connected to that machine, and I need to use a specific application on that machine. That's it! How boring.
Sure if I want to I can load an app that uses some anonymous server that is in some anonymous location as long as it is approved by Apple but if I want to use all the machines in my home I can forget it. Frankly I think it is an absolutely abhorrent development to computing and it is about a dozen steps back.
The iPad is marketed to people who should not be encouraged!!
Instead people buy and iPad, and let Apple erode their value!
That's so funny. It's these same apple fanbois that, when discussing wireless syncing, cannot BELIEVE that anyone in their right mind would use anything other then the provided USB cable to charge their iPhone or want to sync with more then one system.