OK, do that, and select next day delivery. 2 days later you get an email saying that the "expected ship date" is 5 days in the future. 5 days go by, and you get another email stating that the new ship date is 2 weeks further out. During this entire process, attempt to call and find out if they actually HAVE any batteries in stock. Good luck - they can't tell you. The web site doesn't either.
Why can't anyone in Dell tell you if they have an item in stock or not? Every other retailer on the planet can.
I know exactly what I said. I think you missed the point. You have to be a volume customer. It's not that you have to be willing to PAY, you can be WILLING all you want. Unless you have the volume you are shit in the eye's of Dell. The Enterprise customers are actually not all that willing to pay extra - in fact they get volume discounts and pay less per machine than small business customers.
You get a different level of service when you can say "give me good service or next year I'll be taking my 5000 unit purchase to IBM instead of you guys". Dell doesn't give a rip if they lose little customers.
Enterprise customers get dedicated account reps, dedicated service reps, etc. It's a whole different experience.
Huh. I've always found HP / Compaq home machines to so totally suck (as do all home models from all manufacturers.) Seems as most of your HP experience is NOT with servers / business models.
As for business servers, no WAY would I use Dell. They just are not as managable, and the parts change all the time. When I deploy new servers, I have them shipped direct to the data center, where a tech racks them and powers it on. 15 minutes later I get an automated email telling me that the server is installed and ready for use (XML scripted ILO configuration and automatic PXE netboot installs are wicked cool.) HP even packages their drivers so that a single package supports multiple generations and models of servers. What's not to like???
As for shipping, you don't buy directly though HP - you buy from a reseller. Most resellers drop-ship from huge distributers like Merisel, TechData, etc. that have massive inventory. We buy a LOT of HP equipment (hundreds of servers) and have zero problem getting machines shipped same day or next (although we generally use 3 day shipping.) I only had one part that took more than 7 days, which was a blade server chassis. It took 9 days because it was on backorder.
We also don't use "factory integrated" models due to the time lag - and there is no reason to. Integration is easy. If you are a volume customer, your reseller will usually do it for nothing.
I recently purchased a Lattitude D810. The build quality is much worse than the old Thinkpad it was replacing. Futhermore, trying to buy a spare battery was a futile excersize that only resulted in frustration and no battery. Next new employee is getting my dell and I'm getting a Thinkpad again. I'd rather take my chances with Lenovo any day.
The Gold support wasn't bad for the part that broke the first week I had the laptop, since it's onsite next day, but the call center "customer service" and order processing are too annoying to put up with. Dell can NOT tell you if they have a part in stock, and when you may get it. Sales / service apparently does not have any way to check inventory. Ordering something "next day" is meaningless since it may take 3 weeks to ship in the first place - of course you have no idea how long it will take to ship, and neither do they.
HP (compaq) business models are just fine. Stay away from home models no matter WHO makes them. Home models suck. I'm VERY happy with my HP DL-385 dual core dual opteron servers.
I think the point is that you can't get good service and support unless you are a large enterprise customer - it has nothing to do with how much you are willing to pay.
HP / compaq / dell / etc. home models are all crap. Never, EVER buy home models. Buy business models. Note that most retail stores including all the office supply chain stores ONLY sell the home models.
PART of the small business support is in the US. The whole sales and customer service small business group is not. You only get the full US team in the large enterprise group.
OR, is it the fact that Dell has alienated their customer base with shoddy products and outsourced call centers (sales, service and support) staffed by people that don't have the tools or skill to do the job?
force the user to register the software in order for it to operate. I don't know if this was an original idea in 2004, but it is clever.
No, it is not clever. It's not even an original idea. It's obvious to anyone in the field. The idea of using codes / etc. in licensing / activation goes back MANY MANY years. In fact back in the late 80's, we discussed this internally for a software product and decided against the tactic because we felt the users would hate it. The concept has also been used in shareware for many years as well - product operates in demo mode unless registered (either online or via phone / email.)
These patents today are just aweful. In many many cases there is a clear trail of prior art, and in many cases the patent is a minute refinement on well-established existing technology. In most cases, the technology is totally obvious to anyone with a median skill level in the field.
At this point, it's pretty clear that the patent office is rubber-stamping shit. It's almost as if they just divide the total incoming load into two piles and accept one pile, and reject the other regardless of content.
And AdZap for squid was doing it before that. With roaming laptops and such, I found it easier to just install AdBlock which was much more effective.
With anti-adblocking code out there (along with javascript malware,) NoScript for FF is also a must. User Agent Switcher is also cool - make your browser look like a search engine such as googlebot... Can lead to interesting results on some sites.
And AdZap for squid was doing it before that. With roaming laptops and such, I found it easier to just install AdBlock which was much more effective.
With anti-adblocking code out there (along with javascript malware,) NoScript for FF is also a must. User Agent Switcher is also cool - make your browser look like a search engine such as googlebot... Can lead to interesting results on some sites.
I know you are just trolling, but the w3c is the standards body for http / html / css and other related technology. Microsoft is a member of the w3c and therefore has a moral obligation to support those standards.
VMWare and Xen virtualize an entire machine, creating multiple virtual machines, with virtual hardware and all that mess. Openvz just virtualizes an instance of ONE machine, mainly just doing priviledge / resource separation.
Considering that it is MUCH less complicated from a total lines of code POV and uses much fewer resources to operate, openvz seems like it would scale MUCH MUCH more. Don't get me wrong, I like VMWare a lot - been using it since 1.0... But the two products work very differently and have different applications.
I plan on using both vmware and virtuozzo (the versions that cost $$$) because they both make sense, but for different applications and reasons.
OSX runs on my G4-400, but it's pretty pathetic. Many things in fact are too slow to use (garageband and iMovie come to mind. iMovie WORKS, but Garageband complains about the processor being too slow to even play the demos.) Basic stuff like email, browsing, playing music and videos work just fine however.
My new Mac Mini Duo on the other hand runs like a bat out of hell:-)
Worse is corporate "Software Assurance" customers who are paying through the nose (renting licenses) to ensure that they always have current software - that's one of the biggest screwings MS has even given corporate users.
The other big impact is going to be the "end of life" issues for XP. It seems as MS doesn't even know by looking at their Life Cycle Policy page which now no longer even lists dates. The old dates were End of Mainstream support by Dec 2006, and total end of support for XP Home in Dec 2007, Pro in Dec 2009.
Considering how many people still use Windows 98, this is huge - especially if people have to buy new hardware to run Vista (which they probably will.)
MS really is in a bind here when you look at the facts...
a) ssh to the server and use the X that is running on the client, or set the DISPLAY to your workstation. Most servers are going to be headless anyway. Linux is not Windows. Furthermore, where Linux make sense is something like the Oracle Grid - you are NOT going to be running monitors / GUI's on a 20 server cluster. b) What does this have to do with the server running a GUI??? c) Again, this has NOTHING to do with the server. If you want to run an oracle instance on a workstation, feel free. Oracle's market is not Linux desktops however. Oracle's market is big business / governement which is nearly all windows desktops. Oracle does not have the application suite to get any kind of desktop migration started.
Um, the OP is 100% correct here. You do NOT need or even WANT a GUI on the SERVER. This has NOTHING to do with client tools. Your diatribe is pointless.
The simple fact that FOSS developers have not been able to produce good GPU drivers despite reverse-engineering demonstrates the level of complexity involved.
Sorry, but not only is that comment totally wrong, it's very insulting. The fact that FOSS developers can create drivers without programming docs AT ALL just shows how talented they are. They have a level of skill that most manufacturer driver engineers can only dream about in envy.
The simple fact that FOSS developers have not been able to produce good GPU drivers despite reverse-engineering demonstrates the level of complexity involved.
Sorry, but not only is that comment totally stupid, it's very insulting. The fact that FOSS developers can create drivers without programming docs AT ALL just shows how fucking talented they are. They have a level of skill that most manufacturer driver engineers can only dream about in envy.
Nvidia already needs documentation in order to write drivers. Releasing documentation that they already have would cost them VERY VERY little.
Futhermore, nvidia could choose to release docs for their cards which are no longer "state of the art" which would allow the community to take over maintainance and not give away "secrets" to their competitors (once the cards are out for 6 months or so, there are no "secrets" anymore that would harm their ability to compete.)
To continue to withhold docs for older cards / hardware is POINTLESS and hurtful.
I want my GeForce to work too, but every time my xserver gets updated, the driver needs to be recompiled. I run debian unstable, so this happens a LOT. THe result is a total pain in the ass. Furthermore, it's a total pain in the ass for anyone installing ANY version of linux - making linux unfriendly.
Already, there are many wifi adapters, printers, scanners, controller cards, video cards, USB devices, sound cards, etc. that will not work at all because manufacturers stopped releasing hardware programming specs.
Worse, for hardware that DOES have binary linux drivers, all the installers work differently. New users have to search for the drivers, download them, and then figure out how to install them. If this prolem gets worse, it will be nearly impossible to a) buy hardware that works with Linux and b) have distro's like Knoppix.
This has nothing to do with a stable API, btw. The same problem exists with BSD and other potential new operating systems (BeOS-TNG). Releasing specs would allow ANY os to work with the hardware, not just a few select operating systems / versions. Does NVidia have drivers that work on Sparc Linux? Solaris x86? PPC Linux? The answer is no, and I never expect them to - which IS the problem.
Saying that the "binary drivers works for me" misses the whole point completely.
Slashdot Mirror
OK, do that, and select next day delivery. 2 days later you get an email saying that the "expected ship date" is 5 days in the future. 5 days go by, and you get another email stating that the new ship date is 2 weeks further out. During this entire process, attempt to call and find out if they actually HAVE any batteries in stock. Good luck - they can't tell you. The web site doesn't either.
Why can't anyone in Dell tell you if they have an item in stock or not? Every other retailer on the planet can.
I know exactly what I said. I think you missed the point. You have to be a volume customer. It's not that you have to be willing to PAY, you can be WILLING all you want. Unless you have the volume you are shit in the eye's of Dell. The Enterprise customers are actually not all that willing to pay extra - in fact they get volume discounts and pay less per machine than small business customers.
You get a different level of service when you can say "give me good service or next year I'll be taking my 5000 unit purchase to IBM instead of you guys". Dell doesn't give a rip if they lose little customers.
Enterprise customers get dedicated account reps, dedicated service reps, etc. It's a whole different experience.
Huh. I've always found HP / Compaq home machines to so totally suck (as do all home models from all manufacturers.) Seems as most of your HP experience is NOT with servers / business models.
As for business servers, no WAY would I use Dell. They just are not as managable, and the parts change all the time. When I deploy new servers, I have them shipped direct to the data center, where a tech racks them and powers it on. 15 minutes later I get an automated email telling me that the server is installed and ready for use (XML scripted ILO configuration and automatic PXE netboot installs are wicked cool.) HP even packages their drivers so that a single package supports multiple generations and models of servers. What's not to like???
As for shipping, you don't buy directly though HP - you buy from a reseller. Most resellers drop-ship from huge distributers like Merisel, TechData, etc. that have massive inventory. We buy a LOT of HP equipment (hundreds of servers) and have zero problem getting machines shipped same day or next (although we generally use 3 day shipping.) I only had one part that took more than 7 days, which was a blade server chassis. It took 9 days because it was on backorder.
We also don't use "factory integrated" models due to the time lag - and there is no reason to. Integration is easy. If you are a volume customer, your reseller will usually do it for nothing.
I recently purchased a Lattitude D810. The build quality is much worse than the old Thinkpad it was replacing. Futhermore, trying to buy a spare battery was a futile excersize that only resulted in frustration and no battery. Next new employee is getting my dell and I'm getting a Thinkpad again. I'd rather take my chances with Lenovo any day.
The Gold support wasn't bad for the part that broke the first week I had the laptop, since it's onsite next day, but the call center "customer service" and order processing are too annoying to put up with. Dell can NOT tell you if they have a part in stock, and when you may get it. Sales / service apparently does not have any way to check inventory. Ordering something "next day" is meaningless since it may take 3 weeks to ship in the first place - of course you have no idea how long it will take to ship, and neither do they.
HP (compaq) business models are just fine. Stay away from home models no matter WHO makes them. Home models suck. I'm VERY happy with my HP DL-385 dual core dual opteron servers.
I think the point is that you can't get good service and support unless you are a large enterprise customer - it has nothing to do with how much you are willing to pay.
HP / compaq / dell / etc. home models are all crap. Never, EVER buy home models. Buy business models. Note that most retail stores including all the office supply chain stores ONLY sell the home models.
PART of the small business support is in the US. The whole sales and customer service small business group is not. You only get the full US team in the large enterprise group.
OR, is it the fact that Dell has alienated their customer base with shoddy products and outsourced call centers (sales, service and support) staffed by people that don't have the tools or skill to do the job?
The idea is a bit more than simply using codes in license actibation(sic)
Well, yes. This is what we are discussing.
Of course this also existed in the 80s in the case of shareware.
Um, yes. I said this already.
wa-la
I think you mean: voilà, but yes. There you go.
force the user to register the software in order for it to operate. I don't know if this was an original idea in 2004, but it is clever.
No, it is not clever. It's not even an original idea. It's obvious to anyone in the field. The idea of using codes / etc. in licensing / activation goes back MANY MANY years. In fact back in the late 80's, we discussed this internally for a software product and decided against the tactic because we felt the users would hate it. The concept has also been used in shareware for many years as well - product operates in demo mode unless registered (either online or via phone / email.)
These patents today are just aweful. In many many cases there is a clear trail of prior art, and in many cases the patent is a minute refinement on well-established existing technology. In most cases, the technology is totally obvious to anyone with a median skill level in the field.
At this point, it's pretty clear that the patent office is rubber-stamping shit. It's almost as if they just divide the total incoming load into two piles and accept one pile, and reject the other regardless of content.
And AdZap for squid was doing it before that. With roaming laptops and such, I found it easier to just install AdBlock which was much more effective.
With anti-adblocking code out there (along with javascript malware,) NoScript for FF is also a must. User Agent Switcher is also cool - make your browser look like a search engine such as googlebot... Can lead to interesting results on some sites.
And AdZap for squid was doing it before that. With roaming laptops and such, I found it easier to just install AdBlock which was much more effective.
With anti-adblocking code out there (along with javascript malware,) NoScript for FF is also a must. User Agent Switcher is also cool - make your browser look like a search engine such as googlebot... Can lead to interesting results on some sites.
I know you are just trolling, but the w3c is the standards body for http / html / css and other related technology. Microsoft is a member of the w3c and therefore has a moral obligation to support those standards.
I don't get your comment at all.
VMWare and Xen virtualize an entire machine, creating multiple virtual machines, with virtual hardware and all that mess. Openvz just virtualizes an instance of ONE machine, mainly just doing priviledge / resource separation.
Considering that it is MUCH less complicated from a total lines of code POV and uses much fewer resources to operate, openvz seems like it would scale MUCH MUCH more. Don't get me wrong, I like VMWare a lot - been using it since 1.0... But the two products work very differently and have different applications.
I plan on using both vmware and virtuozzo (the versions that cost $$$) because they both make sense, but for different applications and reasons.
Don't forget standards support and compliance. It will be interesting to see how IE7 supports standards, but MS's history in that regards isn't good.
OSX runs on my G4-400, but it's pretty pathetic. Many things in fact are too slow to use (garageband and iMovie come to mind. iMovie WORKS, but Garageband complains about the processor being too slow to even play the demos.) Basic stuff like email, browsing, playing music and videos work just fine however.
:-)
My new Mac Mini Duo on the other hand runs like a bat out of hell
Worse is corporate "Software Assurance" customers who are paying through the nose (renting licenses) to ensure that they always have current software - that's one of the biggest screwings MS has even given corporate users.
The other big impact is going to be the "end of life" issues for XP. It seems as MS doesn't even know by looking at their Life Cycle Policy page which now no longer even lists dates. The old dates were End of Mainstream support by Dec 2006, and total end of support for XP Home in Dec 2007, Pro in Dec 2009.
Considering how many people still use Windows 98, this is huge - especially if people have to buy new hardware to run Vista (which they probably will.)
MS really is in a bind here when you look at the facts...
a) ssh to the server and use the X that is running on the client, or set the DISPLAY to your workstation. Most servers are going to be headless anyway. Linux is not Windows. Furthermore, where Linux make sense is something like the Oracle Grid - you are NOT going to be running monitors / GUI's on a 20 server cluster.
b) What does this have to do with the server running a GUI???
c) Again, this has NOTHING to do with the server. If you want to run an oracle instance on a workstation, feel free. Oracle's market is not Linux desktops however. Oracle's market is big business / governement which is nearly all windows desktops. Oracle does not have the application suite to get any kind of desktop migration started.
Um, the OP is 100% correct here. You do NOT need or even WANT a GUI on the SERVER. This has NOTHING to do with client tools. Your diatribe is pointless.
The simple fact that FOSS developers have not been able to produce good GPU drivers despite reverse-engineering demonstrates the level of complexity involved.
Sorry, but not only is that comment totally wrong, it's very insulting. The fact that FOSS developers can create drivers without programming docs AT ALL just shows how talented they are. They have a level of skill that most manufacturer driver engineers can only dream about in envy.
The simple fact that FOSS developers have not been able to produce good GPU drivers despite reverse-engineering demonstrates the level of complexity involved.
Sorry, but not only is that comment totally stupid, it's very insulting. The fact that FOSS developers can create drivers without programming docs AT ALL just shows how fucking talented they are. They have a level of skill that most manufacturer driver engineers can only dream about in envy.
Nvidia already needs documentation in order to write drivers. Releasing documentation that they already have would cost them VERY VERY little.
Futhermore, nvidia could choose to release docs for their cards which are no longer "state of the art" which would allow the community to take over maintainance and not give away "secrets" to their competitors (once the cards are out for 6 months or so, there are no "secrets" anymore that would harm their ability to compete.)
To continue to withhold docs for older cards / hardware is POINTLESS and hurtful.
I want my GeForce to work too, but every time my xserver gets updated, the driver needs to be recompiled. I run debian unstable, so this happens a LOT. THe result is a total pain in the ass. Furthermore, it's a total pain in the ass for anyone installing ANY version of linux - making linux unfriendly.
Already, there are many wifi adapters, printers, scanners, controller cards, video cards, USB devices, sound cards, etc. that will not work at all because manufacturers stopped releasing hardware programming specs.
Worse, for hardware that DOES have binary linux drivers, all the installers work differently. New users have to search for the drivers, download them, and then figure out how to install them. If this prolem gets worse, it will be nearly impossible to a) buy hardware that works with Linux and b) have distro's like Knoppix.
This has nothing to do with a stable API, btw. The same problem exists with BSD and other potential new operating systems (BeOS-TNG). Releasing specs would allow ANY os to work with the hardware, not just a few select operating systems / versions. Does NVidia have drivers that work on Sparc Linux? Solaris x86? PPC Linux? The answer is no, and I never expect them to - which IS the problem.
Saying that the "binary drivers works for me" misses the whole point completely.