Ha, 40:1 ratio for desktop support personell for windows? Tell that to alot of IT managers, in particular, my former employer. Try 200:1
40:1 actually seems high if you take into account the time spent by informal power users.
Though I'm not (officially) an admin on this contract, I am pulled in frequently to handle problems with systems...nearly always Windows 2000 and XP. The Linux systems are almost(!) drop and forget. Not as ignorable as Netware, though much more adaptable.
I heard somewhere that the biggest problem with SDL is that it's designed to be simple, so a lot of more-advanced functionality simply isn't present. Is there any truth to that?
As of this morning, there are 118 SDL expansion libraries beyond the base libSDL; Extra SDL libraries
But DirectX offers a lot more than that. Direct3D is just a part of it. You also get networking, sound, etc. If you wanted to stay portable and _only_ use OpenGL, you'd have to write all those extra bits yourself. Which costs time and money.
You wouldn't write the replacement libraries yourself -- you'd use SDL or other existing libs. It's not as simple as variable substitution, though it's a hell of a lot simpler than write-from-scratch!
The performance using a wrapper issue also doesn't apply; Winelib isn't a wrapper and outside of Winelib you'd write normal non-win32 code...so if the performance is poor...well!
Look and feel issues; nobody gets this for free...porting to/from Windows and MacOS/OSX is a problem. Hell, using Win9x apps on WinXP looks odd much of the time. The widgets are often a hodge-podge of styles.
"a move which may prove problematic for traditional security vendors like Symantec."
Which means competition and is therefore good for the user.
I don't consider Symantec a security company. They make software add-ons that plug holes in another company's product(s).
Using Symantec's software to increase security is like adding bouncers to a pub that not only sells beer but hands out free baseball bats and crack cocaine while leaving everything on the bar because it's easier that way.
Interesting read. Normally, Cisco doesn't (or didn't as of last year) offer security fixes on any of the equipment it sells...unless you have a service contract. This refusal to fix this one device is not a good sign, though.
Apparently, they are working hard to fix it in IIS 7.0 and the next version of ASP.NET.
Apparently.
Well, call me a skeptic, though I'll believe that when they actually implement security properly (by default -- not the theoretical after the fact kind) and don't stab business partners in the back on a regular basis. Long established habbits tend to be the hardest to break -- though I don't think there's much will or intent to change. Why should they?
Canada _is_mostly_ empty. If you know where a road runs, zoom in. You won't see it on the map unless you get close enough. Large areas of Peurto Rico are like that too, let alone the midwest.
* No need to use the on-screen arrows to move around
* Left click and hold can be used to drag the map
* The arrow keys and other keys on your keyboard also work (PgUp, PgDn,
+, -,...)
While the useful part of the map is limited to the 50 US States, Puerto
Rico, and the populated areas of Canada, it does not have local boarders
(drag from Alaska or Hawaii to Florida or the Canadian wilderness if you
want). Zoom all the way in before you think they left something out.
It looks to be complete.
* The vector-generated maps are very readable when printed
* It uses Google's Local search; if you haven't tried that, give it a
whirl (example: Choose a location on the main page, click Local when the
location appears, and punch in "pizza" or "atms". Not perfect; "beer"
and "pub" don't work so well, though oddly "brew" returns some good
results.:( )'
The whole idea is a good one, and there's no company nickel-and-diming it to death.
Agreed -- iRate is fantastic. While there are some garbage 'samples' on the list, there are very few. Out of 1,000 songs I've only encountered 27 (just purged that many just now).
I would never have found these gems if it weren't for iRate; Kade Puckett (Backwoods), Nimbus (Twist), Beds for Sleeping Kites (I was starting to believe), Beth Quist (most), Norine Braun (most), Seismic Anamoly (many), MISS (Head Not Found), Electric Franenstein (Coolest Little Monster), Ehren Starks (many), Jeff Wahl (many), Shannon Campbell (Dreaming of Violets),... let alone ones I would have likely stumbled on later such as Horton's Choice (Oxygen and many more), Sleater Kinney (Oh),... .
Yes, you can get these songs elsewhere...though iRate will help you get music you like from places you might not be looking. Many of the artists also sell high quality versions of the same songs that are on iRate -- so you're not stuck with 128bit MP3s if you want to get a better copy.
Windows and Mac OS X both have similar installer and update functionality. The difference is that they are both more stable platforms (in terms of whether or not certain packages are available) -- you don't need the same kind of dependency management that you need with Linux.
I frequently encounter dependency problems under Windows. Unfortunately, they usually show up as odd behavior in seemingly unrelated software after a new app is installed. With RPM, DEB, and other dependency tracking package systems they tell you up front that there's a problem. If you decide to ignore the advice...well...you've been warned! Can't speak for OSX, though the whole BSD-style drop-and-run-in-place mechanism seems to be a good idea.
The dependency issues in Windows are one of the reasons why I always bring a little friend along when installing anything. Dependency issues are also one of the reasons (beyond an odd file locking mechanism) that you are typically warned to close all applications when installing software under Windows.
Battlefield Earth: The book that tought me that it's OK not to complete a book. Read Dynanetics too -- both before learing about the cult. The books are harmless though egads were they drawn out, booring, repeatitive, and void of any useful content.
I've been boycotting Dilbert since its authors became BSA propaganda whores.
What in your link is objectionable? I don't get it...seems like the text is spot on to me. (insert comments from other links showing that this actually supports Linux et. al)
I just don't get this "software is hard to install" crap.
They are referring to the software that doesn't come bundled in some way with the OS/distribution -- even if that's just something that isn't included or wasn't in an online install application.
Alas, the BBC really does show "lawn-bowling match among seniors" as top-flight sports coverage, because they can no longer afford the rights to anything decent.
What they export these days seems to be high quality. Even the crude old stuff was entertaining. That said, the list of good shows is fairly short on this end of the pond (USA) unless you include HBO's shows and everyone has to pay for that.
Yep; it was a generalization. I'm mostly frustrated with the customization aspects. Grab some Wikis based on PHP and they look impressive. Try and customize, say, Twiki, and keep it in sync with the developers and get ready for problems. Very frustrating. The parts may be borrowed, though they don't work that way. All very implementation specific.
About the absolutely worst software documentation I've ever seen in my life.
With Plone, you can see what is possible...with Zope. With Zope, you can see what is possible with Python. If you need to cusomize something, you can always reach back down the stack to the part you do understand/find docs for. Remove what you do not want. Add what is missing. That said, I'm not holding up Plone as perfection as clearly it is not.
I'm a very big advocate of not reinventing the wheel. PHP apps tend to rehash much of the same things for each and every implementation. If the code for an implementation of one app is 90% of what you need, why build it from the ground up?
Another gripe about PHP. Why do folks constantly reinvent the same thing? No or little borrowing. All customized.
Plone products -- borrowing from Plone and other Plone Products with Plone borrowing from Zope and Zope borrowing from Python -- is just about an ideal example of how to strengthen multiple projects while still getting the narrowly focused service you want that can be tweaked at will. Others can come up with non-Plone examples that they favor, so don't take this as a PHP vs. Plone rant. It's a world vs. PHP rant!:}
PHP web apps tend to have poor default security, and some are a real pain to customize because they are fragile beyond the configuration that the main developers use. Fragility alone is a potential security problem let alone a teeth gnashing exercise in paitience.
I realize that this is a huge generalization. Don't get me wrong; I don't reject a program outright if I find that it was created with PHP. PHP does, though, raise an eyebrow.
All things being equal, I do reject a PHP app quicker than a non-PHP app if it shows a similar number of questionable or just flat out poor security defaults or is designed with little attention to security. It's often harder to deal with and keep up to date as the original branch of the app is updated -- raising the frustration as time goes on.
Slashdot Mirror
40:1 actually seems high if you take into account the time spent by informal power users.
Though I'm not (officially) an admin on this contract, I am pulled in frequently to handle problems with systems...nearly always Windows 2000 and XP. The Linux systems are almost(!) drop and forget. Not as ignorable as Netware, though much more adaptable.
The video covers Linux specifically, though the ideas can be used on just about any project. Very slick.
Geek enough? Let's see...bonus points for 1 word replies or clever longer ones.
As of this morning, there are 118 SDL expansion libraries beyond the base libSDL; Extra SDL libraries
You wouldn't write the replacement libraries yourself -- you'd use SDL or other existing libs. It's not as simple as variable substitution, though it's a hell of a lot simpler than write-from-scratch!
The performance using a wrapper issue also doesn't apply; Winelib isn't a wrapper and outside of Winelib you'd write normal non-win32 code...so if the performance is poor...well!
Look and feel issues; nobody gets this for free...porting to/from Windows and MacOS/OSX is a problem. Hell, using Win9x apps on WinXP looks odd much of the time. The widgets are often a hodge-podge of styles.
Which means competition and is therefore good for the user.
I don't consider Symantec a security company. They make software add-ons that plug holes in another company's product(s).
Using Symantec's software to increase security is like adding bouncers to a pub that not only sells beer but hands out free baseball bats and crack cocaine while leaving everything on the bar because it's easier that way.
Interesting read. Normally, Cisco doesn't (or didn't as of last year) offer security fixes on any of the equipment it sells...unless you have a service contract. This refusal to fix this one device is not a good sign, though.
Well, call me a skeptic, though I'll believe that when they actually implement security properly (by default -- not the theoretical after the fact kind) and don't stab business partners in the back on a regular basis. Long established habbits tend to be the hardest to break -- though I don't think there's much will or intent to change. Why should they?
Very sweet. Thanks for the link...they've out done Google.
* No need to look outside a country, since no other exist.
It's beta? I don't know what other response you're looking for....
First thought: Consider TCP/IP with a DNS reverse lookup; (phone # becomes URL that points to a background routing number...such as IP4/6.)
Canada _is_mostly_ empty. If you know where a road runs, zoom in. You won't see it on the map unless you get close enough. Large areas of Peurto Rico are like that too, let alone the midwest.
maps.google.com
Here's the kicker;
* They used DHTML and Javascript
* They did _not_ use Flash
Go take a look and consider that...
* No need to use the on-screen arrows to move around
* Left click and hold can be used to drag the map
* The arrow keys and other keys on your keyboard also work (PgUp, PgDn, +, -, ...)
While the useful part of the map is limited to the 50 US States, Puerto Rico, and the populated areas of Canada, it does not have local boarders (drag from Alaska or Hawaii to Florida or the Canadian wilderness if you want). Zoom all the way in before you think they left something out. It looks to be complete.
* The vector-generated maps are very readable when printed
* It uses Google's Local search; if you haven't tried that, give it a whirl (example: Choose a location on the main page, click Local when the location appears, and punch in "pizza" or "atms". Not perfect; "beer" and "pub" don't work so well, though oddly "brew" returns some good results. :( )'
Agreed -- iRate is fantastic. While there are some garbage 'samples' on the list, there are very few. Out of 1,000 songs I've only encountered 27 (just purged that many just now).
I would never have found these gems if it weren't for iRate; Kade Puckett (Backwoods), Nimbus (Twist), Beds for Sleeping Kites (I was starting to believe), Beth Quist (most), Norine Braun (most), Seismic Anamoly (many), MISS (Head Not Found), Electric Franenstein (Coolest Little Monster), Ehren Starks (many), Jeff Wahl (many), Shannon Campbell (Dreaming of Violets), ... let alone ones I would have likely stumbled on later such as Horton's Choice (Oxygen and many more), Sleater Kinney (Oh), ... .
Yes, you can get these songs elsewhere...though iRate will help you get music you like from places you might not be looking. Many of the artists also sell high quality versions of the same songs that are on iRate -- so you're not stuck with 128bit MP3s if you want to get a better copy.
I frequently encounter dependency problems under Windows. Unfortunately, they usually show up as odd behavior in seemingly unrelated software after a new app is installed. With RPM, DEB, and other dependency tracking package systems they tell you up front that there's a problem. If you decide to ignore the advice...well...you've been warned! Can't speak for OSX, though the whole BSD-style drop-and-run-in-place mechanism seems to be a good idea.
The dependency issues in Windows are one of the reasons why I always bring a little friend along when installing anything. Dependency issues are also one of the reasons (beyond an odd file locking mechanism) that you are typically warned to close all applications when installing software under Windows.
Battlefield Earth: The book that tought me that it's OK not to complete a book . Read Dynanetics too -- both before learing about the cult. The books are harmless though egads were they drawn out, booring, repeatitive, and void of any useful content.
What in your link is objectionable? I don't get it...seems like the text is spot on to me. (insert comments from other links showing that this actually supports Linux et. al)
LOL! Modded as "insightful"!
They are referring to the software that doesn't come bundled in some way with the OS/distribution -- even if that's just something that isn't included or wasn't in an online install application.
Consider it a thought experiment.
With each Solaris release, Sun stops supporting older hardware. Does anyone know where Sun has tucked the latest list?
What they export these days seems to be high quality. Even the crude old stuff was entertaining. That said, the list of good shows is fairly short on this end of the pond (USA) unless you include HBO's shows and everyone has to pay for that.
Yep; it was a generalization. I'm mostly frustrated with the customization aspects. Grab some Wikis based on PHP and they look impressive. Try and customize, say, Twiki, and keep it in sync with the developers and get ready for problems. Very frustrating. The parts may be borrowed, though they don't work that way. All very implementation specific.
With Plone, you can see what is possible...with Zope. With Zope, you can see what is possible with Python. If you need to cusomize something, you can always reach back down the stack to the part you do understand/find docs for. Remove what you do not want. Add what is missing. That said, I'm not holding up Plone as perfection as clearly it is not.
I'm a very big advocate of not reinventing the wheel. PHP apps tend to rehash much of the same things for each and every implementation. If the code for an implementation of one app is 90% of what you need, why build it from the ground up?
Plone products -- borrowing from Plone and other Plone Products with Plone borrowing from Zope and Zope borrowing from Python -- is just about an ideal example of how to strengthen multiple projects while still getting the narrowly focused service you want that can be tweaked at will. Others can come up with non-Plone examples that they favor, so don't take this as a PHP vs. Plone rant. It's a world vs. PHP rant! :}
I realize that this is a huge generalization. Don't get me wrong; I don't reject a program outright if I find that it was created with PHP. PHP does, though, raise an eyebrow.
All things being equal, I do reject a PHP app quicker than a non-PHP app if it shows a similar number of questionable or just flat out poor security defaults or is designed with little attention to security. It's often harder to deal with and keep up to date as the original branch of the app is updated -- raising the frustration as time goes on.