Not that the machine was inherently bad technically - it just didn't work very well.
It was unreliable, both in hardware and software (especially the early units), bombs were their equivalent of BSODs and happened just as often, and they had bad PCJr-type graphics modes that weren't even as good as EGA at a time when VGA was becoming standard.
Not only that, the Trammiels were just putrid at running a company and ran Atari into the ground in a few short years.
Worse than that was PCDitto, the Atari ST DOS-emulator (that still required a legal version of DOS - 3.3 or earlier) that enabled a fast 68000-based Atari ST to be the equivalent of a 1 MHz 8088 (about 1/5 the speed of a standard XT).
How do I know? I owned both at one time, unfortunately.
That "damn piece of cloth" is considered by most, if not all, civilized countries as THE national symbol of their country. It is also used to signify the country-of-registration of ships at sea, embassies, and the like. It is a national identifier. Pledging allegiance to it (even though it is in fact just a symbol) is equivalent to pledging allegiance to one's country.
Besides, would you rather pledge allegiance to a head of state (either elected, appointed, or especially someone who took the office by force), who is mortal and will eventually die, or a political party?
I forgot to mention this in my last post about Mandrake-vs-Slackware. It didn't install about 50 of the packages I had selected, including about half of GNOME, Midnight Commander, and a few console apps.
I have Mandrake 9.1 and Slackware 9.0 dual-booted on one machine (cheap no-name 1.1 GHz with 224 Mb RAM). I was able to get Mandrake to work, but it was problematic enough to not recommend it. I hope 9.2 is better.
Slackware installed and ran without a problem, while Mandrake had several problems, notably configuring X (no screen definitions) and not seeing my wheel-mouse. I had to copy my XF86config file from my Slack partition to get Mandrake to work. Not good.
In addition, Slackware is about 20% faster than Mandrake on the same machine, although memory usage was about the same. This was when running either KDE, GNOME, or WindowMaker. In fact, this machine running Mandrake is about as fast as my old 433 MHz Emachine w/192 Mb RAM running Red Hat 9.
Like I said, I hope Mandrake 9.2 is an improvement over 9.1. Otherwise it just isn't worth trying.
Setup is only on the CD, AFAIK. It doesn't get installed on the hard drive (at least not since 7.1, the first Slackware I installed). The individual configuration programs such as netconfig do get installed, though.
Spark gap transmitters have been illegal since about 1925.
Besides, your analogy is incorrect. Most, if not all, airplanes are equipped with black boxes. Even if you survive such a crash, it won't be necessary to scrape together a CW transmitter.
The Morse Code requirement is obsolete now, but I would fight the FCC tooth-and-nail if they proposed the elimination of CW as a transmission mode altogether. It is still used quite heavily and no mode should be completely outlawed in amateur radio. Defeats the purpose.
Those who want to use Morse Code should be allowed to do so, but to make it a legal requirement is as silly as being required to pass a speech test to use phone or a typing test to use other digital modes.
(Disclaimer: This may be redundant but I have my preferences set to Newest First)
If SCO is mailing notices asking for any kind of payment when their legal rights have not been determined by a court, it's extortion - a federal offense in the US.
If they are sending out an invoice for services not rendered or products not sold by them, it's mail fraud - an even bigger federal offense.
The USPS takes a very dim view of people who do this. SCO has a better chance of being prosecuted for mail fraud than extortion.
The guy that started the electronics store is the son or grandson of the founder of Fry's Food Store, but they were never under the same corporate "umbrella."
I bought one with the SiS chipset and 1.1 GHz AMD Duron processor for $229. The hardware works, but you do get what you pay for.
The first thing you absolutely have to do is expand the memory. 32 Mb of the RAM is used for video so expanding it from 128 Mb (96 Mb useable) to at least 256 Mb (224 Mb useable) is mandatory. KDE barely loads in the original (128/96 Mb) configuration. I'm using 256/224 Mb right now and it is much better.
There is a reason why the KDE menu includes uninstall instructions, as does the manual. ThizLinux is a piece of unmitigated garbage and even they know it. It looks like a bastardized version of RedHat 8 converted to a combination of Chinese and English (Thiz is based in Hong Kong). Fry's probably receives these machines as-is from Hong Kong or China.
Now, as far as Linux distros that work on this machine, I'm typing this on my Fry's machine running Slackware 9 right now. It seems to work fine. RedHat 8 also works OK (as well as RH8 has ever worked but better than ThizLinux).
Mandrake 9.1 is a problem. The sound doesn't work (ALSA driver problem? It works in Slackware and RH8 with no ALSA) and neither does the wheel in the mouse (but it does see it as the middle button). Everything else seems OK, but I don't recommend Mandrake for this machine. It may be useable, but it shouldn't require this much work.
The SuSE 8.2 Live-Eval CD doesn't work with this chipset either. Don't even bother to try it. X won't even start. I tried installing it 4 times and it never was functional. That doens't mean a "regular" SuSE install won't work, but I don't have the full distro so I haven't tried it.
I haven't tried Debian, RH9, FreeBSD, Gentoo, or any other distro. They may work or they may not.
Same with any version of Windows. I would guess that at least Win98 would work. Based on other "odd" hardware I've tried to install it on, Windows 2000 might be a problem, but I haven't tried it on this box since I don't have it.
Overall, my recommendation for this cheap hardware is Slackware 9. This machine should only be purchased by those who can install their own OS.
>>- The lack of any common GUI among apps. Hell sometimes you can't even cut and paste between apps. At least with Windows and MacOSX there is enough similarity between apps that once you figure out how to use one you are well off to figure out the rest. Linux there is no comparison.
The cut-and-paste problem should have been solved in XFree86 ages ago. That is a system problem not a WM/Desktop Environment problem.
>>- Application names...yeah, XMMS really screams to me that it is an audio player when I see it on KDE's equivelant of a start menu. Might as well call it asdkasdf@#3rafsdfa, there isn't a difference.
That has been a UN*X problem/tradition since Day One. However, program names are up to their authors. If you don't like names, rename the file or name your own programs properly and get the ball rolling.
>>- Software on store shelves...oh wait, what software on store shelves other then maybe one Linux distribution.
Software won't be on store shelves until Linux has more than a 5% market share. Vicious circle.
And even if it gets that far, someone will write a GPL equivalent that is even better (isn't that how Linux got started in the first place?)
>>- Forget support, doesn't do much good if my mom can't get a phone number for that replacement of her beloved Quicken.
GNU-Cash, anyone?
>>- Sure there is games, but call me when Battlefield 1942, High Heat Baseball, etc. are available instead of just FreeCiv. Get games like those and just about every young male in the world will switch.
Contact the authors of those programs, or dual-boot into both Linux and Windows for the time being.
>>- Oh yeah, can I mention dependicies?
As opposed to Windows' DLL-Hell? Same thing, although I still don't understand why programs linked with GLibc 2.2.4 (for example) aren't backwards-comaptible with 2.2.anything-else. 2.0.x or 2.1.x incompatibility I can understand, but there shouldn't be problems between minor versions of a library. I see it all the time (KDE 2 was notorious for this).
There is no conflict. If you are talking about a publicly-held company, there is only one correct (and legal) answer: Profit Now!
The only reason for business is profit for the stockholders. If we are talking about a public company that is mandated by law (at least in the US).
A product (software or otherwise) may not be perfect, but if it has been announced, is being offered for sale, and isn't an unmitigated piece of s#!t (or even if it is, but let's keep Microsoft and some car makers out of this:-D ), you have to release it bugs and all.
One old saying is "There is never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over." Another one is "There comes the time in the life of every product when it becomes necessary to shoot the engineers and start production."
Good engineering does not make short-term profit (although it can and should make long-term gains). Products out the door make profit. Short-term profit makes the stockholders happy. They do not want to wait.
It makes more common sense to have a well-engineered product that won't fail or require updates or redesigns. But a product in constant design doesn't get manufactured/released (in the case of software), shipped, and sold.
The bottom line is that Quick and Dirty gets a product out the door. Slow, deliberate, and well-designed does not.
The LATE Iraqi Information Minister?
on
Bill Gates On Linux
·
· Score: 3, Funny
He's alive and well (he surrendered to US forces and was released last week) and would be the perfect spokesman for Microsoft.
"There is no Blue Screen of Death, never! All Linux infidels' stomachs will roast in hell! We shall defeat them with Trustworthy Computing and shoes!"
I remember back in '65 when I built my first processor with thousands of vacuum tubes. Heated up the entire neighborhood. In fact, it took up the entire neighborhood.
Used punchcards which I made myself by sticking pinholes in pieces of paper. The display was a 64x64 matrix of christmas lights.
To get the parts, I had to walk 30 miles to the nearest electronics shop. I had to bring the parts home in a big box strapped to my back. In a blizzard. With no shoes on. Uphill. Both ways.
Since you mentioned Phoenix, only channels 2, 11, 14, 16, 22, 32, 38, 40, 44, 46, 47, and 50 are available for non-TV services (Chs. 52-69 have already been reallocated once analog TV goes away). All of the other channels are in use for TV, either analog (high and low power) or digital, within 100 miles of Phoenix.
Most of these remaining channels would receive interference from the big TV stations. Not a whole lot of room for other services. Other cities have the same problem, if not worse.
...it was probably put on Monster only because DOD regulations require (or at least they used to when I worked in defense several years ago) that it be posted publicly if no one in-house is (officially) qualified.
They probably have a few people in mind (that one or more managers know or are related to) that have these exact qualifications but they can't hire them unless the job offer is made public first.
This is quite common in the defense world. I doubt that they really need 56 people with those exact requirements unless it is for a brand new project.
Re:Problems with OSS acceptance right now...
on
CIOs Looking At OSS
·
· Score: 1
I'm sure we all know what the major OSS adoptions problems are:
1. MS has a few fields, including the one I work in, that they dominate because the customers demand MS solutions. Simple as that. Those are lost to OSS.
Unfortunately, that is 100% true. I work in one of these, the office telephone systems (PBXs, voicemails, etc.) industry. Our customers (dealers and installers, not end-users) can barely handle Windows 98, let alone Linux. These are cable-jockeys, not real technical people. They (and their bosses) demand Windows because that's all they know (if they really know that!). We don't even offer products that run on Macs, nor will we in the forseeable future.
2. No matter how pretty Gnome, KDE, etc. are, X is still X, so end users will get the same mediocre graphics quality that has plagued X from Day 1. Also, until true MS replacement products come out for Linux, it'll never be Joe End User's desktop.
For software used in most businesses this doesn't mean squat. As long as the graphics hardware can handle up to 1024x768 in 65K colors, it doesn't matter for the most part. I'm not talking about graphics-intensive stuff here, just the usual word-processor/spreadsheet/file manager type of stuff.
3. CIOs have a choice, they can pay a lot for software licenses and a medium amount for technical help, or they can buy the software for free and employ the "antisocial, smelly unix geek" crowd for the higher salaries they command. In this economy, they're going to stick with the expensive software.
Also true, unfortunately, even though it is poor business to do so. It is easier to justify capital expenses to the Board of Directors and stockholders than it is to justify paying expensive UN*X guys. Businesses today want to operate with as few expensive employees as possible. A 22-year-old MCSE is cheaper to pay than the 45-year-old UNIX engineer.
Besides, the people who control the purse-strings will probably be more familiar with Microsoft than Linux. The CIO will do what his CEO and CFO tell him. They probably own stock in Microsoft anyway.
4. Although IBM and RedHat have done a great job of telling people that tech support will be there for them, there's still the thought that your only support contact will be the 13-year-old in Finland who wrote your video card driver. People will pay a lot to know that they can call someone up and have a software problem fixed in a few hours.
That's slowly changing. If that's the case, fire the guy who bought the obscure hardware. Linux supports just about everything that a business needs hardware-wise.
Until these issues are fixed, OSS can only move forward slowly.
Slowly but surely, although I wouldn't be conducting any telethons for Bill Gates anytime soon.
Only if you are using Windows since the NFL (and college sports via Yahoo) streams only work in Windows Media Player. If you are using Linux you are SOL. There is no RealPlayer feed AFAIK.
I've never been able to get WMP streams to work in Linux MPlayer. Oh, well, there's always the sports bar.:-)
And if the company files bankruptcy before you get your deferred salary back, you're screwed. Employees are unsecured creditors, and hence are the last to get paid if a company goes bankrupt.
To make money for the owners/stockholders. Period. It is also their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and last responsibility.
Now, they do have to do that within the laws of the US, the state they are located in, and the regulations of the SEC (if their stock is publicly traded). They also should do it by providing value to their customers, not by cooking the books and being Enron-wannabe.
By cutting salaries 50% even temporarily they may have violated the labor laws of the state of Illinois. By doing this so the books look good, they may have violated SEC regulations (and probably state law as well).
In either case, this company should be looked into. They are not doing their owners any favors because this will bite them in the ass eventually.
All a school system has to do is get one (1) copy of the Linux distribution of their choice. Cost: $0.00 if donated, $50.00 max if purchased. Install this on a bunch of low-end Pentiums (or is it Pentia?) which could be procured for next-to-nothing. Much cheaper than Microsoft junk.
Voila! They're up to date with technology. They can even use StarOffice/OpenOffice to save/read Microsoft Office files.
Slashdot Mirror
Not that the machine was inherently bad technically - it just didn't work very well.
It was unreliable, both in hardware and software (especially the early units), bombs were their equivalent of BSODs and happened just as often, and they had bad PCJr-type graphics modes that weren't even as good as EGA at a time when VGA was becoming standard.
Not only that, the Trammiels were just putrid at running a company and ran Atari into the ground in a few short years.
Worse than that was PCDitto, the Atari ST DOS-emulator (that still required a legal version of DOS - 3.3 or earlier) that enabled a fast 68000-based Atari ST to be the equivalent of a 1 MHz 8088 (about 1/5 the speed of a standard XT).
How do I know? I owned both at one time, unfortunately.
...a process that combines computer programs with human waste products.
In other words, a patent on sh!tty software. I want $1 in royalties on everything Microsoft has ever sold.
That "damn piece of cloth" is considered by most, if not all, civilized countries as THE national symbol of their country. It is also used to signify the country-of-registration of ships at sea, embassies, and the like. It is a national identifier. Pledging allegiance to it (even though it is in fact just a symbol) is equivalent to pledging allegiance to one's country.
Besides, would you rather pledge allegiance to a head of state (either elected, appointed, or especially someone who took the office by force), who is mortal and will eventually die, or a political party?
I forgot to mention this in my last post about Mandrake-vs-Slackware. It didn't install about 50 of the packages I had selected, including about half of GNOME, Midnight Commander, and a few console apps.
I have Mandrake 9.1 and Slackware 9.0 dual-booted on one machine (cheap no-name 1.1 GHz with 224 Mb RAM). I was able to get Mandrake to work, but it was problematic enough to not recommend it. I hope 9.2 is better.
Slackware installed and ran without a problem, while Mandrake had several problems, notably configuring X (no screen definitions) and not seeing my wheel-mouse. I had to copy my XF86config file from my Slack partition to get Mandrake to work. Not good.
In addition, Slackware is about 20% faster than Mandrake on the same machine, although memory usage was about the same. This was when running either KDE, GNOME, or WindowMaker. In fact, this machine running Mandrake is about as fast as my old 433 MHz Emachine w/192 Mb RAM running Red Hat 9.
Like I said, I hope Mandrake 9.2 is an improvement over 9.1. Otherwise it just isn't worth trying.
Setup is only on the CD, AFAIK. It doesn't get installed on the hard drive (at least not since 7.1, the first Slackware I installed). The individual configuration programs such as netconfig do get installed, though.
Spark gap transmitters have been illegal since about 1925.
Besides, your analogy is incorrect. Most, if not all, airplanes are equipped with black boxes. Even if you survive such a crash, it won't be necessary to scrape together a CW transmitter.
The Morse Code requirement is obsolete now, but I would fight the FCC tooth-and-nail if they proposed the elimination of CW as a transmission mode altogether. It is still used quite heavily and no mode should be completely outlawed in amateur radio. Defeats the purpose.
Those who want to use Morse Code should be allowed to do so, but to make it a legal requirement is as silly as being required to pass a speech test to use phone or a typing test to use other digital modes.
73, KK7OT (Ham operator since 1970)
(Disclaimer: This may be redundant but I have my preferences set to Newest First)
If SCO is mailing notices asking for any kind of payment when their legal rights have not been determined by a court, it's extortion - a federal offense in the US.
If they are sending out an invoice for services not rendered or products not sold by them, it's mail fraud - an even bigger federal offense.
The USPS takes a very dim view of people who do this. SCO has a better chance of being prosecuted for mail fraud than extortion.
The guy that started the electronics store is the son or grandson of the founder of Fry's Food Store, but they were never under the same corporate "umbrella."
Fry's Food Stores are now owned by Kroger.
I bought one with the SiS chipset and 1.1 GHz AMD Duron processor for $229. The hardware works, but you do get what you pay for.
The first thing you absolutely have to do is expand the memory. 32 Mb of the RAM is used for video so expanding it from 128 Mb (96 Mb useable) to at least 256 Mb (224 Mb useable) is mandatory. KDE barely loads in the original (128/96 Mb) configuration. I'm using 256/224 Mb right now and it is much better.
There is a reason why the KDE menu includes uninstall instructions, as does the manual. ThizLinux is a piece of unmitigated garbage and even they know it. It looks like a bastardized version of RedHat 8 converted to a combination of Chinese and English (Thiz is based in Hong Kong). Fry's probably receives these machines as-is from Hong Kong or China.
Now, as far as Linux distros that work on this machine, I'm typing this on my Fry's machine running Slackware 9 right now. It seems to work fine. RedHat 8 also works OK (as well as RH8 has ever worked but better than ThizLinux).
Mandrake 9.1 is a problem. The sound doesn't work (ALSA driver problem? It works in Slackware and RH8 with no ALSA) and neither does the wheel in the mouse (but it does see it as the middle button). Everything else seems OK, but I don't recommend Mandrake for this machine. It may be useable, but it shouldn't require this much work.
The SuSE 8.2 Live-Eval CD doesn't work with this chipset either. Don't even bother to try it. X won't even start. I tried installing it 4 times and it never was functional. That doens't mean a "regular" SuSE install won't work, but I don't have the full distro so I haven't tried it.
I haven't tried Debian, RH9, FreeBSD, Gentoo, or any other distro. They may work or they may not.
Same with any version of Windows. I would guess that at least Win98 would work. Based on other "odd" hardware I've tried to install it on, Windows 2000 might be a problem, but I haven't tried it on this box since I don't have it.
Overall, my recommendation for this cheap hardware is Slackware 9. This machine should only be purchased by those who can install their own OS.
That scum-suckin' Darl McBride makes me MAD! I pity da fool. Oooh, I pity da fool!
>> You know what I hate about Linux?
>>- The lack of any common GUI among apps. Hell sometimes you can't even cut and paste between apps. At least with Windows and MacOSX there is enough similarity between apps that once you figure out how to use one you are well off to figure out the rest. Linux there is no comparison.
The cut-and-paste problem should have been solved in XFree86 ages ago. That is a system problem not a WM/Desktop Environment problem.
>>- Application names...yeah, XMMS really screams to me that it is an audio player when I see it on KDE's equivelant of a start menu. Might as well call it asdkasdf@#3rafsdfa, there isn't a difference.
That has been a UN*X problem/tradition since Day One. However, program names are up to their authors. If you don't like names, rename the file or name your own programs properly and get the ball rolling.
>>- Software on store shelves...oh wait, what software on store shelves other then maybe one Linux distribution.
Software won't be on store shelves until Linux has more than a 5% market share. Vicious circle.
And even if it gets that far, someone will write a GPL equivalent that is even better (isn't that how Linux got started in the first place?)
>>- Forget support, doesn't do much good if my mom can't get a phone number for that replacement of her beloved Quicken.
GNU-Cash, anyone?
>>- Sure there is games, but call me when Battlefield 1942, High Heat Baseball, etc. are available instead of just FreeCiv. Get games like those and just about every young male in the world will switch.
Contact the authors of those programs, or dual-boot into both Linux and Windows for the time being.
>>- Oh yeah, can I mention dependicies?
As opposed to Windows' DLL-Hell? Same thing, although I still don't understand why programs linked with GLibc 2.2.4 (for example) aren't backwards-comaptible with 2.2.anything-else. 2.0.x or 2.1.x incompatibility I can understand, but there shouldn't be problems between minor versions of a library. I see it all the time (KDE 2 was notorious for this).
There is no conflict. If you are talking about a publicly-held company, there is only one correct (and legal) answer: Profit Now!
:-D ), you have to release it bugs and all.
The only reason for business is profit for the stockholders. If we are talking about a public company that is mandated by law (at least in the US).
A product (software or otherwise) may not be perfect, but if it has been announced, is being offered for sale, and isn't an unmitigated piece of s#!t (or even if it is, but let's keep Microsoft and some car makers out of this
One old saying is "There is never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over." Another one is "There comes the time in the life of every product when it becomes necessary to shoot the engineers and start production."
Good engineering does not make short-term profit (although it can and should make long-term gains). Products out the door make profit. Short-term profit makes the stockholders happy. They do not want to wait.
It makes more common sense to have a well-engineered product that won't fail or require updates or redesigns. But a product in constant design doesn't get manufactured/released (in the case of software), shipped, and sold.
The bottom line is that Quick and Dirty gets a product out the door. Slow, deliberate, and well-designed does not.
He's alive and well (he surrendered to US forces and was released last week) and would be the perfect spokesman for Microsoft.
"There is no Blue Screen of Death, never! All Linux infidels' stomachs will roast in hell! We shall defeat them with Trustworthy Computing and shoes!"
You wimps who had Apple IIs were lucky.
:-D
I remember back in '65 when I built my first processor with thousands of vacuum tubes. Heated up the entire neighborhood. In fact, it took up the entire neighborhood.
Used punchcards which I made myself by sticking pinholes in pieces of paper. The display was a 64x64 matrix of christmas lights.
To get the parts, I had to walk 30 miles to the nearest electronics shop. I had to bring the parts home in a big box strapped to my back. In a blizzard. With no shoes on. Uphill. Both ways.
Wusses!
Since you mentioned Phoenix, only channels 2, 11, 14, 16, 22, 32, 38, 40, 44, 46, 47, and 50 are available for non-TV services (Chs. 52-69 have already been reallocated once analog TV goes away). All of the other channels are in use for TV, either analog (high and low power) or digital, within 100 miles of Phoenix.
Most of these remaining channels would receive interference from the big TV stations. Not a whole lot of room for other services. Other cities have the same problem, if not worse.
...it was probably put on Monster only because DOD regulations require (or at least they used to when I worked in defense several years ago) that it be posted publicly if no one in-house is (officially) qualified.
They probably have a few people in mind (that one or more managers know or are related to) that have these exact qualifications but they can't hire them unless the job offer is made public first.
This is quite common in the defense world. I doubt that they really need 56 people with those exact requirements unless it is for a brand new project.
I'm sure we all know what the major OSS adoptions problems are:
1. MS has a few fields, including the one I work in, that they dominate because the customers demand MS solutions. Simple as that. Those are lost to OSS.
Unfortunately, that is 100% true. I work in one of these, the office telephone systems (PBXs, voicemails, etc.) industry. Our customers (dealers and installers, not end-users) can barely handle Windows 98, let alone Linux. These are cable-jockeys, not real technical people. They (and their bosses) demand Windows because that's all they know (if they really know that!). We don't even offer products that run on Macs, nor will we in the forseeable future.
2. No matter how pretty Gnome, KDE, etc. are, X is still X, so end users will get the same mediocre graphics quality that has plagued X from Day 1. Also, until true MS replacement products come out for Linux, it'll never be Joe End User's desktop.
For software used in most businesses this doesn't mean squat. As long as the graphics hardware can handle up to 1024x768 in 65K colors, it doesn't matter for the most part. I'm not talking about graphics-intensive stuff here, just the usual word-processor/spreadsheet/file manager type of stuff.
3. CIOs have a choice, they can pay a lot for software licenses and a medium amount for technical help, or they can buy the software for free and employ the "antisocial, smelly unix geek" crowd for the higher salaries they command. In this economy, they're going to stick with the expensive software.
Also true, unfortunately, even though it is poor business to do so. It is easier to justify capital expenses to the Board of Directors and stockholders than it is to justify paying expensive UN*X guys. Businesses today want to operate with as few expensive employees as possible. A 22-year-old MCSE is cheaper to pay than the 45-year-old UNIX engineer.
Besides, the people who control the purse-strings will probably be more familiar with Microsoft than Linux. The CIO will do what his CEO and CFO tell him. They probably own stock in Microsoft anyway.
4. Although IBM and RedHat have done a great job of telling people that tech support will be there for them, there's still the thought that your only support contact will be the 13-year-old in Finland who wrote your video card driver. People will pay a lot to know that they can call someone up and have a software problem fixed in a few hours.
That's slowly changing. If that's the case, fire the guy who bought the obscure hardware. Linux supports just about everything that a business needs hardware-wise.
Until these issues are fixed, OSS can only move forward slowly.
Slowly but surely, although I wouldn't be conducting any telethons for Bill Gates anytime soon.
Only if you are using Windows since the NFL (and college sports via Yahoo) streams only work in Windows Media Player. If you are using Linux you are SOL. There is no RealPlayer feed AFAIK.
:-)
I've never been able to get WMP streams to work in Linux MPlayer. Oh, well, there's always the sports bar.
My sympathies go out to Mrs. Nucks and the rest of the Nucks family. I'm sure Lee will be missed.
Leenucks may be dying but Linux is very much alive and well.
Or am I mistaken and leenucks is another term for Microsoft? We know it's dying.
...the more things stay the same.
100 years ago it was John D. Rockefeller & Standard Oil.
70 years ago it was David Sarnoff & RCA.
Now it's Bill Gates & Micro$oft.
Dictatorial businessmen, all.
And if the company files bankruptcy before you get your deferred salary back, you're screwed. Employees are unsecured creditors, and hence are the last to get paid if a company goes bankrupt.
Don't think it will happen? It certainly could.
To make money for the owners/stockholders. Period. It is also their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and last responsibility.
Now, they do have to do that within the laws of the US, the state they are located in, and the regulations of the SEC (if their stock is publicly traded). They also should do it by providing value to their customers, not by cooking the books and being Enron-wannabe.
By cutting salaries 50% even temporarily they may have violated the labor laws of the state of Illinois. By doing this so the books look good, they may have violated SEC regulations (and probably state law as well).
In either case, this company should be looked into. They are not doing their owners any favors because this will bite them in the ass eventually.
Mozilla works on the Bank of America system, just like Netscape 4.7x did. Too bad Opera and Konqueror don't, though.
Mozilla 0.9.9 is almost there. Much faster and more stable than 0.9.7. Just a few more bugs (such as deleting bookmarks) to work out.
All a school system has to do is get one (1) copy of the Linux distribution of their choice. Cost: $0.00 if donated, $50.00 max if purchased. Install this on a bunch of low-end Pentiums (or is it Pentia?) which could be procured for next-to-nothing. Much cheaper than Microsoft junk.
Voila! They're up to date with technology. They can even use StarOffice/OpenOffice to save/read Microsoft Office files.