Here's another reason to disable instead of delete;
If someone before you deleted President Joan Smith's account 'jsmith' when Joan left, and two years later Jimmy "The Fish" Smith comes in as a temp and given the 'jsmith' account, you've just given The Fish a corporate president's level of access to many resources on your network.
As a rule I never delete an account or remove user identification information.
Nuking an account kills part of your auditing trail and/or proper file associations when you do it. Besdies, if you need to check something as a specific user it can be a bear to undo the dammage. Temporarily suspending access can happen just as often depending on the environment, so why not simplify it to one process?
Besides the practical option of re-enabling the account if the person comes back, disabling accounts is a good habit preventing nasty problems fixing mistakes (John Smith vs. Johan Smith).
Closed source may be what the Linux kernel needs to keep things stable.
Troll, or just ignorant?
First off, while I own two Nvidia cards, I won't be getting or recommending another. Lack of stability is the reason. The 3DFX card and open source drivers that I used to have were rock stable when rendering 3D. Every release of the Nvidia drivers have been unstable and have caused crashes that do not occur with the open nv drivers. These problems occur with others and are similar to those that occur under Windows. (Yes, I checked the AGP settings and other troublesome issues.)
Second, it is not the resonsibility of one programmer to fix the code of another. In the case of the kernel developers, they can't fully debug each binary release of Nvidia's code on each system. That said, when code has a defect -- but is openly available -- it is often fixed.
Bottom line: Most of the reasons for using open source are practical and have nothing to do with agendas, politics, philosophy, or views on business.
I can't speak about Dvorak to Qwerty, though I have worked conferences where there were a few different keyboards (UK, Belgian, German) and after a short bit of practice I could switch between them fluidly.
The thing about pricewatch is that it lists _everything_ that fits a query. For example, let's take the first OS on thier list, Windows XP Pro. What can you get for $14?
Preinstallation CD allows you to install win. XP (Not an OS) without CDKey and customize it before you sell
OK, maybe the next one for $15?
Preinstallation CD allows you to install win. XP (Not an OS) without CDKey and customize it before you sell
Let's look for something with a key...OEM or not. Ah, here's one for $85, including free shipping!
MICROSOFT WINDOW XP HOME EDITION (OEM) SEALED PKG/ CD/GUIDE, CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY (XP Pro available too)
Hmmm. So, it's not XP Pro it's XP Home. Wait, a few blocks down here's XP Pro for $107.89!
Includes Manual and COA\License w/ keycode No media/No CD
No CD. Hmmm. OK, we'll look for a full (OEM or not) Windows XP Pro CD with a valid key. What does that go for? $135;
Includes Windows CD, Ownership License, and manual. Microsoft Software is to be purchased with computer hardware
The OS/2 Workplace Shell -- WPS -- damn I miss that. I don't miss OS/2 itself at all, just the WPS.
In OS/2 version 3 or later, the WPS had a tight integration between the GUI and the file system. If you've fiddled around with/proc under Linux you have some idea about how the WPS treated the system. For example, under the WPS all file information was a part of the file -- not a Windows-style link or KDE/Gnome.desktop file.
Now, desktop environments like KDE and Gnome have handy features like drag-and-drop audio file creation, extensive networking features, and multimedia plugins...yet I am just now getting the same responsiveness between the GUI the file system. One annoying failure is the Gnome file load file box -- the file list isn't updated as files are renamed/added/removed.
The real argument against spam isn't that it's annoying, but that the recipient has to bear the costs. This little stunt has annoyed the spammer, but by loading various companies with unnecessary costs.
So, to be fair we need to find both the email and brick-and-mortar addresses of the companies that buy spaming services from these schmucks, contact them, and then use those addresses instead.
Get the companies and managers of those companies to spam themselves -- both online and in meatspace.
Wow...that sounds like a good project. Anyone want to start it?
Being a mere lacky I've also been misquoted by the press multiple times. How folks who are interviewed often stand it I don't know but it annoys the hell out of me.
Late response...sorry. One of my domains has been around for about 5+ years, the others for 3+. The new spam lists might not gather those addresses. Mine might be grandfathered in; since they were added to some list(s) before, I'll get spam on those accounts forever.
Add to that the fact that Intel is pushing for developers to compile using optimizations for hyperthreading and dual processors, and to make apps more multithreaded, and you get an even greater likelihood of performance increases in the future.
Has anyone put this to the test -- recompiled Linux or one of the BSDs with P4 optimizations (or just SMP) and noticed any difference?
Do they need to know how to install the OS first, or should I let them look that up on their own while I make them power-users?
What distributions of Linux and BSD should they be first introduced to? (I'm only familiar with Debian, and I know virtually nil about *BSD.)
Initially, do they need to be more adept at the GUI, or do they first need to know how to use the shell?
Should I give away Debian CDs no-questions-asked, or should I talk with the almighty Parents so little Daniel doesn't install Linux over Dad's 'work computer.'
Are there any other key issue I need to think about?
Overall, emphasise how they can get answers themselves. Show them how they can get fish themselves.
1. Nope. Give them Knoppix. Installation isn't hard if you don't mind nuking what's already there . Introduce them to Linux and open source but do not give them reasons not to try it themselves later.
If they aren't knowledgeable yet, they need hands-on experience. One week of telling them the wonders of open source won't make that so.
2. Going with #1...no specific distribution. Offer to give them CDs of other distributions if they ask.
3. Shell or GUI? Neither. Show them the Unix-way; everything is a file and this translates to both the GUI and the shell. On the shell end, show them/dev and/proc and then go back to the GUI and show that some (not all) of the same information is there as well.
4. Knoppix fixes these issues in the short term.
Long term, mention disk partitioning. Unfortunately, that means them buying Partition Magic, getting Mandrake or another distro that bundles PM, or learning a hell of a lot about disk partitioning and backup. When in doubt, suggest easy options but mention how to learn more.
Good points. Most advertisements, to me, are of the "We're not like you think we are" variety. For example, the Food Lion adds that run constantly in parts of the US that talk about quality produce and meat. Yet, a few years ago Food Lion was justly criticized for repackaging old meat (all types) and dipping it in bleach to take off the surface slime.
When I see an advertisement I don't say "wow, it'll do that" but "liars" or more specifically;
A positive advertisement is usually there to paint over -- to surpress -- an existing negitive.
Because of that, these adds give me important information; this company has something they know they are failing at, and here it is.
Being lied to is expected, and some advertisers have used that to thier client's advantage. Joe Isuzu is a perfect example of that.
another way to say all this is that BELIEFS are impossible to change!
While I agree people will not change thier beliefs easily, and that the first belief in a specific slot is usually the hardest to change, it is not always the case.
Some beliefs are just silly (Santa brings presents) yet similar ones are backed by local social forces (specific local religous practices = "everyone does this"/"to not do this is wrong") and are nearly impossible to effectively challenge. To the beliver, the assertion that there might be something wrong with a fatwa against Salman Rushdie is as silly as an adult still believing in Santa Claus. (Yes, I had that conversation with a coworker who in all other respects was a 'normal guy' -- just Moslem...very surprising.)
The specifics of that belef system change frequently, the core tends to be unchanged for most people -- but not all.
At what point will Microsoft decide - and start telling Joe Public - that a "Microsoft PC" is more trustworthy than an identical box built by Dell?
They're doing the work now make that a possibility. For example, Microsoft is selling network equipment now. It's very cheap stuff, but it's another cog making the "Microsoft PC" a reality. As I mentioned before, Microsoft is very motivated to do something like this -- they've already gobbled up almost all there is to eat;
Microsoft's revenue from existing sources is tapped. While they make a substantial amount of money, they aren't increasing (all things considered).
The recient spike was due to the licencing change that boiled down to "pay us more now, or pay us a lot more later". Even monopolies can push thier customers so far.
So, where to go? Buy other unrelated companies? Check. Branch out into new markets (MSNBC, Xbox)? Check. Take new markets from established companies (AOL)? Check.
All I see that's left is to increase investments in unrelated companies and markets, or to take more of what they know -- PCs.
For PCs, it might take 5 years to get all the pieces together. Microsoft has the time, they have the money comming in, they don't have to do actual production, though they do have to keep an eye out for some companies to buy.
The obvious choice -- and obviously we should beware of people who use words like 'obvious':) -- is for them to save money and wait to see what companies have the critical patents or hardware that will be important in 5 years. When it's safe, buy those companies, integrate thier product lines, promote "PC 2006" (that use those patents), and then go from there. Sell the MS PC line like Apple and Sun do, but also licence others to be resellers like they do with Pocket PC/WinCE.
If I see this as a posibility, companies that have traditionally been partners with Microsoft must see this too. Sony has already been burnt (Xbox), and just about every other large company -- from Sun through IBM-HP-Compaq-Gateway-Dell to even Intel just don't like an all-dominate Microsoft calling the shots and setting thier margins.
To save money, Microsoft only has to not issue dividends to stock holders (check), and if needed, roll that money into some other venture so that profits vanish. In 5~ years they can dump the hold over companies and use the cash to buy the critical companies.
Research and patents -- buying or making -- can be done anytime. This includes slowly inforcing the patents they have, piece by piece.
This is all speculation and guessing about the future. Before you take it seriously, go to a used book store or library and flip through books that talked about what the future would be like -- lots of grins.
I've followed Wine for a couple years, and it just started to become practical for a wide variety of programs in the last 6-9 months. Before that, a few programs worked well enough for normal use.
Over the last year, I've bought Codeweavers Crossover (both Plugin and Office) and a subscription to Transgaming's effort. Take a look at the programs listed in the main Wine tree and at Transgaming's site.
If you want to roll your own, most of the code is available in some form from both branches, though the commercial distributions are more polished. If I were to deploy Wine over a large number of machines, I would probably go back to building my own just to cut costs.
If manage a domain, you will get one to your contact address (usually hostmaster@your.domain) and also sales@, webmaster@, and a few other garbage addresses.
Having said that, I get ~10 spams a day to these bogus accounts per domain name -- not 100.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's another reason to disable instead of delete;
If someone before you deleted President Joan Smith's account 'jsmith' when Joan left, and two years later Jimmy "The Fish" Smith comes in as a temp and given the 'jsmith' account, you've just given The Fish a corporate president's level of access to many resources on your network.
As a rule I never delete an account or remove user identification information.
Nuking an account kills part of your auditing trail and/or proper file associations when you do it. Besdies, if you need to check something as a specific user it can be a bear to undo the dammage. Temporarily suspending access can happen just as often depending on the environment, so why not simplify it to one process?
Besides the practical option of re-enabling the account if the person comes back, disabling accounts is a good habit preventing nasty problems fixing mistakes (John Smith vs. Johan Smith).
Who would be held accuntable if it weren't open-source?
Answer: The company that offers a warranty. If you sell it, some states have an implied warranty...others do not.
Crossover -- the commercial Wine -- is warranted by Codeweavers.
Troll, or just ignorant?
First off, while I own two Nvidia cards, I won't be getting or recommending another. Lack of stability is the reason. The 3DFX card and open source drivers that I used to have were rock stable when rendering 3D. Every release of the Nvidia drivers have been unstable and have caused crashes that do not occur with the open nv drivers. These problems occur with others and are similar to those that occur under Windows. (Yes, I checked the AGP settings and other troublesome issues.)
Second, it is not the resonsibility of one programmer to fix the code of another. In the case of the kernel developers, they can't fully debug each binary release of Nvidia's code on each system. That said, when code has a defect -- but is openly available -- it is often fixed.
Bottom line: Most of the reasons for using open source are practical and have nothing to do with agendas, politics, philosophy, or views on business.
I can't speak about Dvorak to Qwerty, though I have worked conferences where there were a few different keyboards (UK, Belgian, German) and after a short bit of practice I could switch between them fluidly.
OK, it's not crisp and clean but not nightmare inspiring either.
I don't think you value him enough. Whenever I pick up a chili dog, he always thanks me, thanks me very much.
OK, maybe the next one for $15?
Let's look for something with a key...OEM or not. Ah, here's one for $85, including free shipping!
Hmmm. So, it's not XP Pro it's XP Home. Wait, a few blocks down here's XP Pro for $107.89!
No CD. Hmmm. OK, we'll look for a full (OEM or not) Windows XP Pro CD with a valid key. What does that go for? $135;
...for the OEM version.
In OS/2 version 3 or later, the WPS had a tight integration between the GUI and the file system. If you've fiddled around with /proc under Linux you have some idea about how the WPS treated the system. For example, under the WPS all file information was a part of the file -- not a Windows-style link or KDE/Gnome .desktop file.
Now, desktop environments like KDE and Gnome have handy features like drag-and-drop audio file creation, extensive networking features, and multimedia plugins...yet I am just now getting the same responsiveness between the GUI the file system. One annoying failure is the Gnome file load file box -- the file list isn't updated as files are renamed/added/removed.
It seems to me that in practice, the USA is a republic not a democracy.
Wow! What astounds me isn't that Ernest Glitch invented time travel, but that he works as a copy editor at Linux Journal.
Like others, my reaction was "so...Exult can already run U7". Yet, I know of no way to run Ultima 8...till I went to the web page.
So, to be fair we need to find both the email and brick-and-mortar addresses of the companies that buy spaming services from these schmucks, contact them, and then use those addresses instead.
Get the companies and managers of those companies to spam themselves -- both online and in meatspace.
Wow...that sounds like a good project. Anyone want to start it?
So, what we need are a list of addresses for CEOs and managers who work at companies that pay spammers like him. Maybe that would work?
Being a mere lacky I've also been misquoted by the press multiple times. How folks who are interviewed often stand it I don't know but it annoys the hell out of me.
Late response...sorry. One of my domains has been around for about 5+ years, the others for 3+. The new spam lists might not gather those addresses. Mine might be grandfathered in; since they were added to some list(s) before, I'll get spam on those accounts forever.
Has anyone put this to the test -- recompiled Linux or one of the BSDs with P4 optimizations (or just SMP) and noticed any difference?
The equipment there is not replaced every 6 months. Much of it is inferior to my modest Athlon 600 with a 1 year old video card.
Overall, emphasise how they can get answers themselves. Show them how they can get fish themselves.
1. Nope. Give them Knoppix. Installation isn't hard if you don't mind nuking what's already there . Introduce them to Linux and open source but do not give them reasons not to try it themselves later.
If they aren't knowledgeable yet, they need hands-on experience. One week of telling them the wonders of open source won't make that so.
2. Going with #1...no specific distribution. Offer to give them CDs of other distributions if they ask.
3. Shell or GUI? Neither. Show them the Unix-way; everything is a file and this translates to both the GUI and the shell. On the shell end, show them /dev and /proc and then go back to the GUI and show that some (not all) of the same information is there as well.
4. Knoppix fixes these issues in the short term.
Long term, mention disk partitioning. Unfortunately, that means them buying Partition Magic, getting Mandrake or another distro that bundles PM, or learning a hell of a lot about disk partitioning and backup. When in doubt, suggest easy options but mention how to learn more.
5. Too broad. I'll let others handle that.
When I see an advertisement I don't say "wow, it'll do that" but "liars" or more specifically;
Because of that, these adds give me important information; this company has something they know they are failing at, and here it is.
Being lied to is expected, and some advertisers have used that to thier client's advantage. Joe Isuzu is a perfect example of that.
While I agree people will not change thier beliefs easily, and that the first belief in a specific slot is usually the hardest to change, it is not always the case.
Some beliefs are just silly (Santa brings presents) yet similar ones are backed by local social forces (specific local religous practices = "everyone does this"/"to not do this is wrong") and are nearly impossible to effectively challenge. To the beliver, the assertion that there might be something wrong with a fatwa against Salman Rushdie is as silly as an adult still believing in Santa Claus. (Yes, I had that conversation with a coworker who in all other respects was a 'normal guy' -- just Moslem...very surprising.)
The specifics of that belef system change frequently, the core tends to be unchanged for most people -- but not all.
I wish I had moderation points...you are spot on (and few others here are).
They're doing the work now make that a possibility. For example, Microsoft is selling network equipment now. It's very cheap stuff, but it's another cog making the "Microsoft PC" a reality. As I mentioned before, Microsoft is very motivated to do something like this -- they've already gobbled up almost all there is to eat;
The recient spike was due to the licencing change that boiled down to "pay us more now, or pay us a lot more later". Even monopolies can push thier customers so far.
So, where to go? Buy other unrelated companies? Check. Branch out into new markets (MSNBC, Xbox)? Check. Take new markets from established companies (AOL)? Check.
All I see that's left is to increase investments in unrelated companies and markets, or to take more of what they know -- PCs.
For PCs, it might take 5 years to get all the pieces together. Microsoft has the time, they have the money comming in, they don't have to do actual production, though they do have to keep an eye out for some companies to buy.
The obvious choice -- and obviously we should beware of people who use words like 'obvious' :) -- is for them to save money and wait to see what companies have the critical patents or hardware that will be important in 5 years. When it's safe, buy those companies, integrate thier product lines, promote "PC 2006" (that use those patents), and then go from there. Sell the MS PC line like Apple and Sun do, but also licence others to be resellers like they do with Pocket PC/WinCE.
If I see this as a posibility, companies that have traditionally been partners with Microsoft must see this too. Sony has already been burnt (Xbox), and just about every other large company -- from Sun through IBM-HP-Compaq-Gateway-Dell to even Intel just don't like an all-dominate Microsoft calling the shots and setting thier margins.
To save money, Microsoft only has to not issue dividends to stock holders (check), and if needed, roll that money into some other venture so that profits vanish. In 5~ years they can dump the hold over companies and use the cash to buy the critical companies.
Research and patents -- buying or making -- can be done anytime. This includes slowly inforcing the patents they have, piece by piece.
This is all speculation and guessing about the future. Before you take it seriously, go to a used book store or library and flip through books that talked about what the future would be like -- lots of grins.
Over the last year, I've bought Codeweavers Crossover (both Plugin and Office) and a subscription to Transgaming's effort. Take a look at the programs listed in the main Wine tree and at Transgaming's site.
If you want to roll your own, most of the code is available in some form from both branches, though the commercial distributions are more polished. If I were to deploy Wine over a large number of machines, I would probably go back to building my own just to cut costs.
If manage a domain, you will get one to your contact address (usually hostmaster@your.domain) and also sales@, webmaster@, and a few other garbage addresses.
Having said that, I get ~10 spams a day to these bogus accounts per domain name -- not 100.