It's all about right tool for the job. Unfortunately, I can't really see a good fit for the table/iPad devices.
10 inch tablet, with optional keyboard + stand == tablet, with optional stuff to lose. And normally, without the processing grunt.
iTouch/iPhone == right size for small consuming stuff.
Small laptop == just right for portable productivity AND entertainment.
I just bought a HP laptop around 10 inches (Compaq branded), for less than 200 $US (188 Swiss Francs to be precise). It's great, weights almost the same as an iPad. Watch downloaded torrents all the time on the train. But email, and serious office documents are also easily handled. Also has a VGA out built in to the laptop so connecting it to the TV is easy. I own it outright (no tethered contracts).
My iTouch, i freaking love. Ok, it's no phone (but neither is the laptop), but very usable on a plane, and fits in my shirt or jeans pocket. Travels almost everywhere with me, it's a day to day item. Obviously, I'd never take the laptop to the shops, or when travelling light.
The loser here is the tablet. It has neither the processing grunt, nor keyboard, usb, nor vga out built-in. And it's not as portable as a smart phone or similar device. Can't put it in the pocket when at the pub, and if I stay late at the pub, then there is the chance that the booze will induce gravity related trauma to the tablet (or me) or present an opportunity for it to be lost.
Marketing wants what marketing wants. To hell if it has a positive cost/benefit ratio. "Nice and shiny and uses lots of Flash... and runs on my iPhone... drool"
Devs dev what marketing wants. Dev only wants to dev in production. As Administrator/root/qsecofr (or ALLOBJ).
IT Management, but especially Finance Magement skimp of every possible detail until they end up spending more time AND money patching it until it would have been cheaper to do it the way joint Ops/Securty said it would.
Ops/Security is handed a dogs breakfast of non-working, insecure code that produces amiguous, and often wrong results. Last to find out or provide input. But it's our fault when it doesn't work, or opens all security doors, or breaches laws in several countries. (The last ones to touch it must have broken it).
If your portable device is connected up via wifi, and not just via 3g, it will also wipe.
So, no Wifi, and no 3g. That's a serious portion of the usability of a device gone.
Most theft or loss of devices come under the "left it in taxi" or "pickpocket got it to turn in to crack" category. In this case the data on it is probably gone forever anyway. Wipe just makes everyone feel better.
Very, very few are a result of espionage or other malicious intent.
If you had malicious intent, you'd get the data off in the small window of opportunity, and work with it at your leasure. And you'd be working on the assumption that the device will be wiped at some point.
Compliance and privacy of the company data is a very real concern to sys admins and legal departments. Remote Wipe is the CYA for any sysadmin with portable devices. My iTouch is the only device approved (testing purposes) that isn't a BlackBerry for our company.
When my parents paid off thier mortgage, they never actually closed the mortgage.
The banks still had the title deed. The bank had to keep that document safe (part of the contact). And they deferred the Stamp Duty. When they eventually sold up and moved (Vic to NSW), THEN they retreived the title from the bank. No title deed, no actual sale.
When (if) I buy property back in Oz, I'll have a Conveyancing Lawyer checking the title. They also check liens and (AFAIR) planning issues that might sneek up on you.
Nobody's holding a gun to your head, making you buy it.
Yes, it is proprietory. No, my PCs run linux. There are alternatives phone and PDAs out there which are free.
Linux on my workstations does the job I want. Apple on my PDA does the job I want. There isn't a piece of data on it that isn't hosted somewhere else. There is a place for Open source, and closed source (and open and closed platforms).
Go poke the CIO instead. That's where the buck stops.
An IT department can make all the technical cases it want to. However, until the equation of $$$StandStill is less than $$$Moveforward, $$$StandStill is where you'll be.
And no, the CIO is almost never a technical weenie. It's just another seat on the board, with fat shareholder priviledges.
I have a boss that's not worried that I'm a zombie until lunchtime. I'm more or less in the office by 9.30am most days but not functional until much later. However, he's very happy that I've hosed down a few fires without the company noticing because I was awake well after midnight.
When at Uni and working at a service station Midnight until 6 or 8, I never felt happier. Then I saw Clerks, at the cinema, and realised I had to get my life in order. But seriously, Midnight onwards is my perfect time to work.
I believe the various ticket selling near-monopolies (the usual suspects) would love to move to an E-bay like system of auctions. Such a programming undertaking is nearing completion. Want Rolling Stones (for example) tickets and are prepared to pay $US 10,000? They are prepared to let you pay that much.
Cash isn't "Free". (why is this about to sound like an open source argument?).
Ever paid for a secure cash drop/pickup from a local security company? Ever paid for bulletproof glass, an actual fireproof safe which is mounted in concrete, and a personal alarm system?
Security on most vending machines certainly isn't cheap either.
Cash counting for non-trivial amount of transactions isn't free either (staff time).
Pre-stored value cards might be an option. Now we just need to agree on a standard....
There is no right answer, but I'm very suspicious of a government that would want to eliminate cash. Cheques on the other hand... well... Netcraft confirms it.
Execs want to know about revenue (and costs). Did the downtime to this revenue generator cost them? Then the parts of that revenue generator (servers, routers, etc), then specific causes (disk, database, DNS, etc).
Then inventory reports. What assets and expenses are going to come up in the next 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months.
Work Ethic? Swiss? Seriously, Can I buy some of whay you're on?
Sure, most turn up at 7.30 to 8. Then eat breakfast in the cafeterica. Around 9.30, I turn up and they have just hit the desks.
Mandatory 2 hour lunch break.
Then the Swiss are out of there on the dot of 4.30 "because they've been at the office since 8" (did they forget to mention the 1.5 hour brekky break?).
Over the 2 hour lunch break alone, I work more than they have done all morning.
I was only ever watching Top Gear "in passing". However, after the Africa challenge, I now count myself a true fan and a hypocrit. As in, I don't have a car.
In my defence, I did buy a Yamaha XJ6 recently though. And Top Gear is good entertainment first, and a car show by accident.
China considers Taiwan part of it's state. I can see it invading at "some point in the future". North Korea is also a no brainer, because it removes a pain in the arse from it's backyard.
Chain will definately be more aggressive in it's economic interests, and both Japan and South Korea will have significant pressure on any disputed territories, be they islands or fishing zones. I don't see any benefit from outright invasion of these countries. One or two big shows of force in N.Korea and Taiwan ought to be enough.
The 21st will be Asia's century, and Chinas in particular. That's not to say that the US is a spent force just yet. But the US will need to deal with it's problems real fast.
I think the salient (how do you spell that?) point is "you saw". Healthy paranioa says that there are plenty to people that dissapear even in the United States of Australia.
As a roo and emu passport holder, currently based O/S, I'll happily mirror a list or seed a torrent on my PC of banned sites. The Australian Govt can fornicate off on this lump of fertilizer. Bittorrent... is there anything you can't do?
Changing OS verions is almost as in depth and challenging for a business as completely changing OSs. And costly. There is no "low cost" upgrade path.
Drivers for us were THE issue. Big business class printers cost real money and not one driver was released for Vista. And that was spread amount several manufacturers, so it wasn't isolated. No drivers for our scanning solution either, which handles many thousands of invoices per month.
UI bugs you mentioned are quite legitimate problems preventing adoption. However these seem to have been (mostly) dealt with by SP1. But too little MS, too late.
I still don't expect that the driver issue will be fixed with Windows 7. However, the UI will be much more polished. (I wait to be proved wrong).
P.S. if you're haviing trouble starting apps, try turning off pre-fetch. Makes an appreciable difference to application startup. Downside is that when the app grabs some memory, there will be delays. Maybe these delays are noticable, perhaps not.
Slashdot Mirror
It's all about right tool for the job. Unfortunately, I can't really see a good fit for the table/iPad devices.
10 inch tablet, with optional keyboard + stand == tablet, with optional stuff to lose. And normally, without the processing grunt.
iTouch/iPhone == right size for small consuming stuff.
Small laptop == just right for portable productivity AND entertainment.
I just bought a HP laptop around 10 inches (Compaq branded), for less than 200 $US (188 Swiss Francs to be precise). It's great, weights almost the same as an iPad. Watch downloaded torrents all the time on the train. But email, and serious office documents are also easily handled. Also has a VGA out built in to the laptop so connecting it to the TV is easy. I own it outright (no tethered contracts).
My iTouch, i freaking love. Ok, it's no phone (but neither is the laptop), but very usable on a plane, and fits in my shirt or jeans pocket. Travels almost everywhere with me, it's a day to day item. Obviously, I'd never take the laptop to the shops, or when travelling light.
The loser here is the tablet. It has neither the processing grunt, nor keyboard, usb, nor vga out built-in. And it's not as portable as a smart phone or similar device. Can't put it in the pocket when at the pub, and if I stay late at the pub, then there is the chance that the booze will induce gravity related trauma to the tablet (or me) or present an opportunity for it to be lost.
Dances with Wolves.
Except less Kevin Costner (always a good thing), and more FX.
Sigh.
Daily life around here.
Marketing wants what marketing wants. To hell if it has a positive cost/benefit ratio. "Nice and shiny and uses lots of Flash ... and runs on my iPhone ... drool"
Devs dev what marketing wants. Dev only wants to dev in production. As Administrator/root/qsecofr (or ALLOBJ).
IT Management, but especially Finance Magement skimp of every possible detail until they end up spending more time AND money patching it until it would have been cheaper to do it the way joint Ops/Securty said it would.
Ops/Security is handed a dogs breakfast of non-working, insecure code that produces amiguous, and often wrong results. Last to find out or provide input. But it's our fault when it doesn't work, or opens all security doors, or breaches laws in several countries. (The last ones to touch it must have broken it).
Classic way NOT to do it.
I bought my PS3 waiting for an opportunity such as this. It might be curtains for chipped original XBOX, but it has served me well for many years.
Yay to high-def media on my HD TV and bluetooth Hi Fi. Must get the Apocalypse Now ripped with the 5.1 surround instead of the low-def options.
And even better, Number of crimes prevented: A big fat zero.
Thoughtcrime is getting harder every day, but at least it's still possible.
As with all things ... check out what the Pr0n industry latches on to.
Not that I would ever suggest that the internet is a foul bastion of depravity, but it just looks that way from the outside.
When we see Pr0n lead the IPv6 uptake, we know mainstream acceptance is minutes away.
Let's not forget Wifi.
If your portable device is connected up via wifi, and not just via 3g, it will also wipe.
So, no Wifi, and no 3g. That's a serious portion of the usability of a device gone.
Most theft or loss of devices come under the "left it in taxi" or "pickpocket got it to turn in to crack" category. In this case the data on it is probably gone forever anyway. Wipe just makes everyone feel better.
Very, very few are a result of espionage or other malicious intent.
If you had malicious intent, you'd get the data off in the small window of opportunity, and work with it at your leasure. And you'd be working on the assumption that the device will be wiped at some point.
Compliance and privacy of the company data is a very real concern to sys admins and legal departments. Remote Wipe is the CYA for any sysadmin with portable devices. My iTouch is the only device approved (testing purposes) that isn't a BlackBerry for our company.
When my parents paid off thier mortgage, they never actually closed the mortgage.
The banks still had the title deed. The bank had to keep that document safe (part of the contact). And they deferred the Stamp Duty. When they eventually sold up and moved (Vic to NSW), THEN they retreived the title from the bank. No title deed, no actual sale.
When (if) I buy property back in Oz, I'll have a Conveyancing Lawyer checking the title. They also check liens and (AFAIR) planning issues that might sneek up on you.
First lesson: Developers never run with Admin rights.
Give your users admin rights before you give your developers admin rights.
You know, I'm actually ok with that.
Nobody's holding a gun to your head, making you buy it.
Yes, it is proprietory. No, my PCs run linux. There are alternatives phone and PDAs out there which are free.
Linux on my workstations does the job I want. Apple on my PDA does the job I want. There isn't a piece of data on it that isn't hosted somewhere else. There is a place for Open source, and closed source (and open and closed platforms).
Go poke the CIO instead. That's where the buck stops.
An IT department can make all the technical cases it want to. However, until the equation of $$$StandStill is less than $$$Moveforward, $$$StandStill is where you'll be.
And no, the CIO is almost never a technical weenie. It's just another seat on the board, with fat shareholder priviledges.
I have a boss that's not worried that I'm a zombie until lunchtime. I'm more or less in the office by 9.30am most days but not functional until much later. However, he's very happy that I've hosed down a few fires without the company noticing because I was awake well after midnight.
When at Uni and working at a service station Midnight until 6 or 8, I never felt happier. Then I saw Clerks, at the cinema, and realised I had to get my life in order. But seriously, Midnight onwards is my perfect time to work.
I believe the various ticket selling near-monopolies (the usual suspects) would love to move to an E-bay like system of auctions. Such a programming undertaking is nearing completion. Want Rolling Stones (for example) tickets and are prepared to pay $US 10,000? They are prepared to let you pay that much.
Cash isn't "Free". (why is this about to sound like an open source argument?).
Ever paid for a secure cash drop/pickup from a local security company? Ever paid for bulletproof glass, an actual fireproof safe which is mounted in concrete, and a personal alarm system?
Security on most vending machines certainly isn't cheap either.
Cash counting for non-trivial amount of transactions isn't free either (staff time).
Pre-stored value cards might be an option. Now we just need to agree on a standard ....
There is no right answer, but I'm very suspicious of a government that would want to eliminate cash. Cheques on the other hand ... well ... Netcraft confirms it.
Bingo.
The hardware is the hardware. That's our job.
Execs want to know about revenue (and costs). Did the downtime to this revenue generator cost them? Then the parts of that revenue generator (servers, routers, etc), then specific causes (disk, database, DNS, etc).
Then inventory reports. What assets and expenses are going to come up in the next 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months.
Jet Fuel?
Pfffft.
I can turn large amounts of beer in to even larger amounts of urine, so what?
Work Ethic? Swiss? Seriously, Can I buy some of whay you're on?
Sure, most turn up at 7.30 to 8. Then eat breakfast in the cafeterica. Around 9.30, I turn up and they have just hit the desks.
Mandatory 2 hour lunch break.
Then the Swiss are out of there on the dot of 4.30 "because they've been at the office since 8" (did they forget to mention the 1.5 hour brekky break?).
Over the 2 hour lunch break alone, I work more than they have done all morning.
* Exceptions apply, as with all things.
99.94 works just fine.
And refering to Spring/Winter is too imprecise. It's currently (July) Winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
Try refering to Quarter 1, Quatert 4, etc for times of the year.
However nit picking aside, at least we shall now get some certainty in the releases of (probably) the worlds best distro.
8-)
Agreed.
I was only ever watching Top Gear "in passing". However, after the Africa challenge, I now count myself a true fan and a hypocrit. As in, I don't have a car.
In my defence, I did buy a Yamaha XJ6 recently though. And Top Gear is good entertainment first, and a car show by accident.
China considers Taiwan part of it's state. I can see it invading at "some point in the future". North Korea is also a no brainer, because it removes a pain in the arse from it's backyard.
Chain will definately be more aggressive in it's economic interests, and both Japan and South Korea will have significant pressure on any disputed territories, be they islands or fishing zones. I don't see any benefit from outright invasion of these countries. One or two big shows of force in N.Korea and Taiwan ought to be enough.
The 21st will be Asia's century, and Chinas in particular. That's not to say that the US is a spent force just yet. But the US will need to deal with it's problems real fast.
Digital Restrictions Management might be a better fit.
I think the salient (how do you spell that?) point is "you saw". Healthy paranioa says that there are plenty to people that dissapear even in the United States of Australia.
As a roo and emu passport holder, currently based O/S, I'll happily mirror a list or seed a torrent on my PC of banned sites. The Australian Govt can fornicate off on this lump of fertilizer. Bittorrent ... is there anything you can't do?
And when I look at the 12 bozo's they'll probably select as "my peers". I think I'll take judge alone thank you.
Only people on juries are those too stupid to get out of jury duty (or actually want to do it ... as in do gooders anxious to lock you away).
Changing OS verions is almost as in depth and challenging for a business as completely changing OSs. And costly. There is no "low cost" upgrade path.
Drivers for us were THE issue. Big business class printers cost real money and not one driver was released for Vista. And that was spread amount several manufacturers, so it wasn't isolated. No drivers for our scanning solution either, which handles many thousands of invoices per month.
UI bugs you mentioned are quite legitimate problems preventing adoption. However these seem to have been (mostly) dealt with by SP1. But too little MS, too late.
I still don't expect that the driver issue will be fixed with Windows 7. However, the UI will be much more polished. (I wait to be proved wrong).
P.S. if you're haviing trouble starting apps, try turning off pre-fetch. Makes an appreciable difference to application startup. Downside is that when the app grabs some memory, there will be delays. Maybe these delays are noticable, perhaps not.