I won't suggest it would work for everyone, but I have found that the best way to raise my kids was to trust them, and then talk to them if they did something I thought was wrong. I discovered early on that one of the things they wanted most from me was my trust. Whenever they did something I didn't approve of, it was the suggestion that their action lessened my trust of them that was the best punishment I could find. (I still grounded them from time to time though not very often.)
When I first got a PC that the kids could use (I've had computers of my own for over 20 years, starting with TRS-80s), I started with one rule, no downloads. When that didn't work, I simply refused to help my kids when downloads didn't work. Guess what happened then, they learned how to use computers.
As my kids usage increased, they were told of the evil people on the Internet and the bad sites, and I made it clear that I expected them to use good judgment and behave themselves. I trusted them to make good decisions.
Of course, I reviewed logs and history and such (kids really aren't too bright if they think you aren't checking up on them) and when I found my son going places he shouldn't be, I asked him about it and why he was going there. He told me he and a friend were using the computer, and his friend showed him the sites. I suggested that he might not want to do that anymore, since if it happened again, we would have the same conversation. It did, but not very much.
Later, when I found movies and pictures downloaded to the PC, I deleted them and then talked to my son and suggested that he think about what would happen if his mother or sister found them. He was very embarrassed, and didn't do it anymore.
That was 2 or 3 years ago. Now I'm divorced and my son is on his own. Not too long ago, I had some interesting male enhancement pills delivered to my house. After some careful detective work, I discovered my daughter had ordered them from eBay using my account, so I asked her about them. (It was a joke gift.)
No retaliation, just good, ole fashioned embarrassing questions and honest discussions.
Worked for me, but each family is different. My kids didn't seem to need many rules to know what was right and to do the right thing most of the time. Maybe parents who set good examples are the best rule of them all.
Command scripting, at least in my experience, has been a structure that enabled admins to link programs together in a controllable sequence to get specific results. Such as:
Updating configuration files on multiple hosts
Renaming a sequence of files
Finding files that contain certain data values and manipulating those files
Automating installation
To do those things does NOT require.NET, HTML XML, etc. To do these things requires a robust environments where programs that understand.NET, HTML, XML, etc., can be strung together such that the output of one can be fed to the input of another.
MS needs to look beyond what a program does, and into what a sys admin does. Any code monkey can write a small code programs. What is needed is a good way to put small building blocks together. MS already has pipes, now how about:
Named pipes so programs can easily communicate. Named pipes are part of the file system, so no extra coding is needed, just open a file for input or output. If you want to get clever, make them so that.net objects can be passed through them.
The ability to get input from the person running the script and stash it into an environment variable. Give me a standard way of doing this.
Starting a new command that creates a new process, instead of running in the current one. I hate running.cmd files that change the current directory.
Unix is what it is because it is NOT monolithic. There are a variety of tools out there to allow the admins to select the ones they want, with all of their associated blemishes, and get the job done. The biggest benefit of UNIX is there is literlly thousands of ways to do things, and more importantly, thousands of simple ways.
Give us the KISS shell, and you might actually convert me.
You just proved my point. You HAVE to have IE on the machine, you can't get rid of it even if you don't use it. Therefore, you have to constantly patch it.
To your other point, there are both open source and commercial versions of SSH, VPN, and SSL. Because there are options, it is very difficult for one security hole to affect all Unix servers.
Real, secure Unix servers are built secure from the ground up. Real, secure Unix servers have special installation procedures that do not install software they don't need and don't have to rely on the network to remain secure. Windows servers have to be built and then secured by registry hacks, disabling software, etc, and rely partly on network security to remain that way. There is a huge difference in the security models because of it.
And if you don't understand the difference, you shouldn't be an admin.
Can we both agree?? I said keep it patched, not use it. It is on the Windows machine, you have to have it because you can't get rid of it. Therefore, you have to patch it. Which was one of the points I was trying to make. Windows machines create insecurity by requiring the installation of software you may not use or need.
Now, they are ingraining DRM into the kernel and god nows what else. All will have to be routinely patched, even on servers that have nothing to do with the Internet or MP3s.
NIS/NFS/RPC --- yeah, not having it sucks. But having it also sucks. Using it inside a network on workstations that doesn't have inbound internet access?? OK, I'll buy that. NIS+, limited usage, NFS mounting of only the home directory. Using them on production servers in a a system that transfers money?? I don't think so.
SSH/VPN access to remote servers -- I had a job where I managed several Sun servers remotely. We used a vpn into the office from home/laptops, then another vpn/ssh to an admin server that would only accept public/private key (long pass phrases) authentication from specific IP addresses, then ssh to the servers that would only accept private/public key authentication from the admin servers. Plus a few other things in the way I won't go into. Was it perfect? No, but at least someone had to do a lot of work to figure it out. Root could not create an ssh connection, you had to log in as yourself and su to root.
SNMP/Remote monitoring -- one-way monitoring, production servers send specific info to monitor servers, who gather and forward it to the main monitoring service. No heartbeat? time for an alert. Routers and such send syslog info to syslog server. Perfect? No, but you had to be inside on the secure network to do anything, and we would have been toast by then anyway.
SSL -- Don't get that, you don't need SSL for VPN. At least I don't think so.
Why would I want a cell phone/pda/mp3/etc. in my shirt/pants/jacket/etc? That would mean I would have to either wear the same shirt/pants/jacket/etc every day, or several articles of clothing would need to be wired.
And if that happened, which one would ring when I got a call and was in the shower?? The towel or the toilet cover??
Re:I'm not sure how accurate this statement is.
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MRAM in 2004?
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· Score: 1
Damn straight. I don't leave my machine on 24x7, but do leave it on most of the time I'm home.
I have a simple morning routine...
Wake up
Turn computer on
relieve bladder, shower and other personal stuff, put on underwear
log on
get fully dressed
computer up and ready. Shut off before I go to work
And another when I get home
Turn computer on
relieve bladder, get necessary nutrients for evening (Hot Pockets!!!!)
log on
change clothes to shorts and tshirt. Get Hot Pockets from microwave
computer up and ready. Shut off before I go to sleep
About the only thing MRAM would save me is all the walking I do between steps. But then, I'm a 44 year old white male techie who could lose a few pounds, and it's about the only excercise I get.
Oh wait... MRAM could be important all those times I have to reboot WinBlows to install yet another security patch to some software I'm probably not using but if I don't install it WinBlows will continue to remind me I haven't installed it yet.
For the sake of argument, assume that it is true that the DCMA legally prevents me from breaking an encryption that a movie production company has placed on it's DVD to prevent me from copying it, ignoring for the moment the side discussion that copyright laws says I can make copies for my own use. A legal argument can be put forth in court because there are two parties involved in this contract and encryption scheme... MGM and me. It doesn't make any difference what the encryption method is, MGM has used it specifically so anyone who has access to the media can't copy it, because they own the rights to the content and they say so. (OK.. big holes in the above, but work with me here...)
Why would that law prevent me from breaking the encryption on a document that I have created? I do it all the time in order to read it, so what is the problem if I want to do it in order to use it from another program?
Where is it said that I cannot provide a product that enables a user to decrypt documents that they already own,that they have created, or given someone else the right to read? It's not breaking an encryption if it's your own document, is it?? If I can reverse engineer the method M$ is using to extract the key and decrypt it, and use all the authentication M$ is using, why would that not be legal??
It appears to me that it would only be illegal to provide a method to break the encryption of a document that someone does not have a right to.
Wanna hear something sad?? I have Unix developers who want root access because when they type 'find / malloc.c', it returns too many 'permission denied' messages. I tried to explain that if they tack on '2>/dev/null' onto the end, the errors messages would go away and they would still find their file.
Their response?? That's too much work.
It doesn't make any difference how tech-savy someone is. Secure systems by their nature prevent access to features. If the perception is that it takes longer to get something done because of the security, people want security turned off.
That's part of the reason why M$ so insecure, Bill Gate$ has made it too easy to use. My fiancee runs her XP laptop without any login, just turn it on and there you are. So much for security. I gave up trying to explain to her why she needs to login to use it. The standard answer is it takes too much time.
I guess getting to email and solitare quickly are more important than making sure all the personal data she has on it is safe.
Didn't say I shop there, now did I??? Even though the produce prices are pretty good, they tend to go bad before I get around to eating them (need more preservatives!). Once my lady gets here and I actually start cooking again, probably will since it is on my way home.
I understood your original comment about my son too, no apology necessary. He and my ex-wife do not get along at all. He didn't go the 'HS jock/college/MBA' route, and she got very upset. He knows dad is a bona-fide establishment/almost republican kind of person, and I know he will make a great one when he is 35 and gotten over this phase. Or at least that's how I tease him.
And Kudos for riding your bike and being Sierra clubber, I don't want to sound like I was belittling it either. A little too environmental oriented for my personal tastes, but Hey!, that's what makes the world go round and keeps the truck-driven, gas-guzzlen, cow-eaten varmits like me in check. It would be a very boring and dangerous place if we all agreed, now wouldn't it.
You can send an email to fredisdead at coxdotnet if you want to take me up on the truck. It's a disposable account, so if anyone else gets it and bothers me, I'll just close it. I use it for any web form that needs an email address.
Very nice response, well above the usual crap that passes for replies here. And that is not sarcasm. I half expected a 'am not, am too' type response.
Hmmmm....too lazy to bike to work. Rather judgemental, aren't you? I could spend 40-60 minutes a day driving, or three hours a day biking (40 miles RT, avg. 12-15MPH). I think laziness is a factor in there a little bit, granted. But the one time I biked to work, I then spent several minutes in a sweat dreanced very unpleasant state. And that was when it was in the mid 70s. Most mornings now it's closer to 90. I've always been a sweater, even when I was in shape. As I mentioned, I also work in the tech industry. Two weeks ago I had three 12-15 hour days. I really don't relish riding my bike home at 10PM. Maybe come Nov. I'll try it again after my girlfriend moves here in three weeks so she could come and get me. She's moving from ME to AZ in the hottest, muggiest time of the year. Poor thing.
Oh, I live 20 miles from work because I want to live 2 1/2 miles. Confused?? I live where I live because the part of our company I want to work at is 2 1/2 miles from here. But my current desk is 20 miles away. So, biking will probably be in my future.
So, the only real difference is our definition of 'necessary'. You don't mind driving if it is your definition of 'inconvienent'. Just like all the Sierra clubbers, 'Oh, I'm much better than you because my definition of inconvienent is a lot lower'. That's a BS argument. If 10 lbs of pollution is bad, then 1lb is bad. You can't both belittle attitudes then turn around and justify polluting a little because someone does it more. Those arguments don't wash with me. You think that if everyone biked you could afford to rent that car or truck? How high would car/gas prices go if everyone biked? You indirectly benefit from the million AZers that drive trucks when you rent one.
I won't deny the accuracy of the statement, that it's best to pollute as little as possible. If I could afford three vehicles(my truck and my girlfriends car are two), then the third would be a small sports car. Maybe in a couple of years when the truck is paid off. One of those little two seaters, maybe a hybrid or F/C car if their out. But I find it difficult to reconcile the higher cost of a car (I have a cheaper truck) v/s the convienence of owning a truck today. (There's that convienence thing again.) My girlfriend has a car, and we drive that most other times. Well, we did when I lived in Maine.
Damn right I'm selfish. I have a truck because not having one is inconvienent. I went from a 20-25MPG car to a 17-21MPG truck when my car gave out on me because I didn't have a truck for three years and it sucked. The top of my car was all scratched up from all the hauling I did. And renting is also inconvienent, and downright 'spensive.
Speaking of which, don't rent a truck. If you don't know anyone with a truck, then we can try to figure out how to exchange email addresses privately and I'll help you move. It's a lot more fun to argue in person!!!!
Which brings us to my son. Don't feel sorry for my son. He loves his dad and our arguments. We have had some great knock-down, drag-out debates over vegan/carnivore choices. Then I would drive him to the food co-op in Tempe (Wild Oats sucks) and help him make good choices because he doesn't know how to shop. Too bad he doesn't live in AZ anymore, the two of you would get along great (he also bikes everywhere). He's back in Maine (didn't like AZ heat in May the wus). We often disagree, but he also knows his dad will support his choices. At least he's not gay (that's a joke, don't go all PC on me.)
You remind me of my vegan 18 year old son. Give me a call in 20 years when you are making the big big bucks and getting old(er) and work 12 hours days 8 times a month, and 36 hour days twice a month without any compensation or advance notice.
If you have biked or taken a bus everyone of those days, then you can stand tall on your high horse and shout. But if you drove just once, then take it all back.
I used to live in Maine, and before that Ohio, and biked every nice day to work. When I lived in Maine, I biked every single summer day for two years because I didn't have a car.
You know what, it sucked. Not every day, but most days. Between the traffic, heat, humidity, and rain, it sucked. And AZ traffic and drivers are the most impolite bunch of SOBs I've ever met. No way in hell I would bike everyday on the street, and the many bikepaths only get me close to work. I still have to ride a couple of miles down University. I rode, once, and vowed never to do it again. Ok, not true. I've threatened to do it again.
And piss off about the truck. I have a truck because I need a truck. I needed a truck when I lived in Maine, I needed a truck when I moved to AZ, and I need a truck here. I'm passed the point in my life when buying a 35" TV or PVC pipe needs to be an adventure. My girlfriend has a car, and it only gets about 8 MPG more than mine. So pphpppttpt to the commuter car crap. I used to drive Escorts and Omnis and even a Yugo and got 35-40 MPG. But those cars all suck. No space to carry anything. You were lucky to be able to get a weeks worth of groceries for a family of 4 in them. (Now, if someone could come out with a decent hybrid truck, that I would buy....)
I don't half apologize for the tone of my rant, but as someone who has lived in many places in this country, there is no place yet I have found that biking to work more than a couple of miles doesn't suck.
All of you twenty-somethings can have all the sucking fun.
I take it you have turned off the AC in your house and office also. Good for you. I don't mind some of the heat, but I also don't mind spending 75 bucks a month to keep my apartment around 83 degrees. That's right, my thermostat is set at 83, not 75, or 72 or 68 . I walk around all day in shorts and no shirt and scare all the neighbors that might look into my window. My Arizona friends that come over think I'm nuts, but when I lived in Maine, if I kept my house warm then it was very, very cold when I went outside. So I do the opposite here and find that I don't mind being outside in 110 degree days. At least, not in June and early July.
(Don't go all Sierra Club on me... just presenting an alternate opinion.)
I didn't spring for the auto-route models, just one with a basic map. But the Phoenix metro-area is on it and it has saved my hide, literally.
Imagine, if you will, driving 2700 miles to a new land. Upon arriving, you take all of your belongings inside, and then proceed to return the UHaul. But you take a wrong turn, into the Twilight zone (it got dark). No landmarks, everything is flat, and I don't know squat about the area. Granted, having a city map probably would have been a GOOD IDEA. But I whipped it out (my GPS that is) and got home without any problems.
My vote is definitely GPS. But, there shouldn't be any reason why Magellin or Garmin couldn't provide some type of adapter to receive the transmissions.
Unless...OH MY GOD!!!! It's not OPEN SOURCE!! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!
This made me laugh. Living in Phoenix, AZ this is exactly how I plan my day. If I can't leave for work by 7:00am, I leave at 8:15am. If I can't leave work by 4:30pm, I stay until 5:30pm. I listen to NPR 15 minutes before I leave home, and sit in my large gas-guzzlin truck for 5 minutes while the AC cools it down and try to catch it before I leave. I drive in one of the right most lanes so I can get off the road at the first sign of trouble. Driving smart gets me the 20 miles home most days in 20-30 minutes.
Those who will suggest biking to work as an alternative should be forced to bike 20 miles in 100-115 degree heat to and from a workplace without a shower. Some do it, and my helmet is tipped off to them. But not this undertall, athletic-ability challenged geek.
Would I buy one?? Depends on the cost. But not if I have to pay a monthly fee. I'm getting 5 and 10 dollar-a-monthed to death as it is. NPR is free, except for the suckers that pay for it. BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!
Did you even read my posting?? I didn't say it wasn't a good idea, I just said MOST people wouldn't use it, and I wasn't getting very excited over it. I would probably use it, you would probably use it, and other anal geeks like us who spend hours getting the most out of our systems will probably use it. But Joe Average down the street, the same guy who doesn't know where his downloads end up, won't use it. So, in my humble opinion, it is bloat.
And, to use your example, what if the file system used it's existing file type/program associations, and if you wanted a detailed view, the associated program would sneak into the file and display the information for you? Isn't that what happens now with Word and Excel? What this file system is doing is duplicating the information already in the file and storing it in the file system.
It would be very easy to add an option in the file association tab in Windows so that an executable can be run to extract the summary information from the file. No change to the existing file system format would even need to be done.
Two ways to get at the same data. One pays a penalty for when you want the data (extra I/O to open the file and look at it), the other pays a penalty for every file stored (redundant data storage.) These are common compromises made in every database by the designers, and there is no one correct answer.
My preference would be for the former. It is far more flexible and mirrors my view that the OS (including the file system) should manage resources and not data. If I want and/or need an advanced file browser or file system, let me buy one, but put the hooks into the OS to support alternatives.
<rant>But, that is not the way of the M$. They are far better at creating proprietary methods that lock you into the 'one true way' that the megalomaniac Bill Gates sees the future as. </rant>
Let's get one thing straight... many of these features are already available in one form or another and no one uses them.
How many people click on Properites in M$Word and put in the information?? How many people download files and leave them lying in whatever directory they just happen to fall in.
Don't take me wrong... I'm not against having an FS that enables you to annotate files outside of the programs that create them. I remember working many years ago with FSs that would allow you to automatically keep the last n revisions, which was very helpful when coding.
It's just that I have a hard time getting excited over something that is going to simply bloat a system and the odds are no one will use.
My girlfriend is fairly smart, but she still downloads all her pictures into the default folder, and uses thumbnails to find the ones she wants. She has about 1000 of them, and it only takes here a few minutes to find the ones she wants. It would take here no extra work than what this new FS is suggesting to rename the file and/or store it in another folder
Useful feature, bloatware, Linux beater, or disaster waiting to happen. My guess is all of the above, at one time or another. Some people will use it and spend hours cross-linking files. I'm sure the initial releases will have security or data loss issues until the bugs get worked out. It will take 0.10 minutes for some Linux hacker to reverse engineer the ability to at least read it. And it will probably take up gobs more memory.
It's all a matter of perspective....
Re:It's easy to lose money ...
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C&W Bails Out
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· Score: 1
You're right of course, why would I want to park in a lot that is close by and is monitored by security? I just love hauling servers across four lanes of busy traffic in 90 degree/75% humidity. It's great excercise and helps to burn in the equipment. I love carrying 100 pound servers by myself and dodging cars. It helps to burn off my 500 lbs of fat. Besides, if I get hit by a car, my company has insurance and I could collect workers comp. It's also great parking in a hotel parking lot that has no security. I don't really need the thousands of dollars in computer and diagnostic equipment I have in my trunk. I didn't pay for it, so why should I worry about it.
The poster sounds like one of those lazy, self-important, junior developers who have absolutly no idea what it takes to set up a system. One that is always screaming 'My program doesn't suck... just buy a faster server' even though they only know how to write single-threaded applications that have no concept of recoverability or scalability and couldn't take advantage of a larger server anyway.
Maybe someday he'll grow up...
It's easy to lose money ...
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C&W Bails Out
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· Score: 4, Interesting
...when all of your data centers are unoccupied by paying customers.
I used to work for a customer of Exodus/Cable Wireless, and saw the exodus from Exodus. I remember the boom years when I only went in on Sunday because that was the only day I could get a parking spot and not have to park across the street. I remember when you could see Dell and Compaq and Gateway and Sun systems in every cage, wall to wall. When you could sit in your cage and have conversations with two or three other customers and learn some really neat stuff. Where the soda and chips were only 25 cents. Where security walked you to your cage and unlocked it for you.
The last few years saw the datacenter become a ghost town. Granted, it was a 62 degree ghost town, but still a ghost town. Where every cage around ours became empty, and we even went from a full cage to a half cage thanks to faster and smaller equipment. The parking lots are never full, soda and chips are now priced the same as everywhere, and no one to talk with. And now security gives you the key to your cage and you walk past rows of empty plastic-coated wire mesh cages.
How do you lose money?? Because you have to run a gazillion foot data center, with all of it's associated infrastructure needs, and you don't have any customers in it. Compare it to the cost of running an apartment building if it is only half occupied. There are still maintenance costs, but now you only have half the tenants to cover it. You still have to heat and cool the empty apartments, although not the same as the rest, and you have no one to pay for it.
Don't get me wrong though. I loved the facility. It was clean and well maintained. I could get away from the home office and work without being interrupted. I didn't have to worry about AC and power and network outside of our cage. If C&W was still a viable company, there would be no hesitation about using them for a data center.
Sun has always provided the OS for free on lower-end systems, and charged on the high-end based on the number of CPUs. All the other high-end system manufacturers do this, except for the free part.
Now that Sun is offering Linux, they will need a way to break out the costs, so that customers that prefer Linux might be offered a price break over customers that prefer Solaris for specific tasks. For instance, webservers and app servers might see no real need for any additional costs for Solaris, but a 75 CPU database server might want the additional features.
This method also provides the capability of pricing support appropriatly. I know, you MS people might not be familiar with this concept, but Sun has been providing support for their OS for years, and not charging by the hour when you call with a problem. Sun bundles OS and hardware support into one number for low end systems. Again, by breaking the pricing out, different support costs can be offered for the different OSes.
Sun support has always provided, cumulative patch sets that can often be applied without reboots. <rant>I built a W2K box yesterday and had to boot over 7 times after the initial install of the OS as I applied various patches. It took me most of the morning to get all the patches installed. I pay for this support so that I can call up a technician that has the resources available to answer my questions. Sheesh.. I wish MS would follow this model.</rant>
Work harder in school. Just because you don't need to study to get by, doesn't mean you shouldn't study.
Girls like you, don't be such a coward and ask them out. You're not asking them to marry you or have sex with you, just to go see a friggin movie. The fun times with the ones that say yes will make the pain of the ones that say no seem insignificant.
I'm tired of being 'told' by the phone companies and society in general that I need more than a freakin phone. Somehow, if I only have a phone, I'm missing something. 'Oh, look how cool he is. He has a phone with a camera and gaming system and text messaging and email and web browser.'
I'm sorry, but I don't need to be so connected that I'm willing to put up with poor quality. I have yet to see any real WAP application I need, phones don't really make good gaming systems, and the cameras suck. Big Time.
And text messaging just sucks. I don't see the point of spending time trying to use a phone keypad to send a text message when YOU CAN JUST CALL THEM!!!! It's cute the first few times, but come one. Call me and tell me how good the band is, then put the phone in the air and let me listen. Use some of those 500 minutes a month, or those free evening and weekend minutes. My friends send my text messages, and then I call them and we talk about something in far greater detail and make a good decision. And laugh, and joke, and enjoy the human interaction, even if it is over a phone.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Palm Vx. I've got a ton of information at my fingertips. And I love taking my laptop into a hotel and plugging into a broadband connection. And our computer systems sends me text messages if something is causing a problem so I can decide if I need to do something about it and use my cell to telnet in and fix it.
It just seems that the push is to see how much they can cram into a device, whether or not it fits or is a real value is a moot point. My Palm is great for contacts, passwords, and shopping lists, but it makes a lousy email reader. It also made for a lousy gaming system. Why would I want to play anything other than solitare on a small screen when I can go home and have a 1280x1024 color system with full joystick/mouse/keyboard control. And I just can't see holding it up to my face to make a call with. It's too freakin big. But if you make the screen any smaller it would be next to worthless.
Hey... to each their own. I've had my Palm Vx for about 4 years now, and have no desire to buy a newer one. When it breaks, I'll go research and buy a good value. But I'm not throwing away a perfectly good Palm and cheap-ass phone just because Nokia has 'the next big thing'.
Oh.. I forgot. This is America. We need to fill up those landfills and spend our money regardless if whether or not we really need to.
All I really want is a goddamn phone. I like my Palm just the way it is. And my camera.
Did you ever notice that most cell phone commercials now don't even talk about the PHONE!!!! All I really need from my cell phone I got in the cheapest one out there. Then I bought a serial cable so I can upload/download phone numbers a couple of times a month. Sure, USB or Bluetooth would be nice, but data really doesn't change that much.
What is with all this "Let's put everything into one device" anyway. How many of you geeks buy all-in-one entertainment systems? Or TVs w/VCRs and DVDs in them?
Answer... none of you, because then when the next-big-thing comes along, you couldn't change just that one piece. When surround sound came out, I bought a new receiver, and then slowly added more speakers. I just bought a new DTS receiver, and guess what... my speakers, DVD player, VCR, CD player, and TV all work just fine with it. I looked at some of the all-in-one units and they stunk. They were all missing features that I could only get my buying the individual components.
OK.. I'll admit the cheap TV/DVD over the hot tub is kinda cool, but you only use it a couple of times a week and can live without all the neat features. You wouldn't watch The Matrix on it, would you??
So.. phone company...sell me a phone to make phone calls. I'll take care of finding the best for the rest.
We have been using NetSaint for years... it runs on Linux, Solaris, and NT and exceeds our needs. It is tremendously configurable, supports remote reporting nodes, and is extremely light weight.
My prior exposure to Openview, Unicenter, and Tivoli are that they are bloated monstrosities better suited to pleasing upper management types who like pretty pictures (has anyone actually found 3D flythroughs to be effective?) than to sys admins and NOCs. They take way too much effort to setup, and suck system resources like crazy. Plus, the damn things cost a fortune to purchase and support.
So.. anyone care to tell me why I really care about this report, other than it showing how companies are taking Linux seriously? Because if they are, then it is time for them to start taking other Open Source software seriously, view what the competition provides, and start making their products more usable. I used to hear a saying, putting a dress on a pig doesn't make it a prom queen. Well, dressing up a pig using Linux doesn't get it a date on my server.
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I won't suggest it would work for everyone, but I have found that the best way to raise my kids was to trust them, and then talk to them if they did something I thought was wrong. I discovered early on that one of the things they wanted most from me was my trust. Whenever they did something I didn't approve of, it was the suggestion that their action lessened my trust of them that was the best punishment I could find. (I still grounded them from time to time though not very often.)
When I first got a PC that the kids could use (I've had computers of my own for over 20 years, starting with TRS-80s), I started with one rule, no downloads. When that didn't work, I simply refused to help my kids when downloads didn't work. Guess what happened then, they learned how to use computers.
As my kids usage increased, they were told of the evil people on the Internet and the bad sites, and I made it clear that I expected them to use good judgment and behave themselves. I trusted them to make good decisions.
Of course, I reviewed logs and history and such (kids really aren't too bright if they think you aren't checking up on them) and when I found my son going places he shouldn't be, I asked him about it and why he was going there. He told me he and a friend were using the computer, and his friend showed him the sites. I suggested that he might not want to do that anymore, since if it happened again, we would have the same conversation. It did, but not very much.
Later, when I found movies and pictures downloaded to the PC, I deleted them and then talked to my son and suggested that he think about what would happen if his mother or sister found them. He was very embarrassed, and didn't do it anymore.
That was 2 or 3 years ago. Now I'm divorced and my son is on his own. Not too long ago, I had some interesting male enhancement pills delivered to my house. After some careful detective work, I discovered my daughter had ordered them from eBay using my account, so I asked her about them. (It was a joke gift.)
No retaliation, just good, ole fashioned embarrassing questions and honest discussions.
Worked for me, but each family is different. My kids didn't seem to need many rules to know what was right and to do the right thing most of the time. Maybe parents who set good examples are the best rule of them all.
- Updating configuration files on multiple hosts
- Renaming a sequence of files
- Finding files that contain certain data values and manipulating those files
- Automating installation
To do those things does NOT requireMS needs to look beyond what a program does, and into what a sys admin does. Any code monkey can write a small code programs. What is needed is a good way to put small building blocks together. MS already has pipes, now how about:
- Named pipes so programs can easily communicate. Named pipes are part of the file system, so no extra coding is needed, just open a file for input or output. If you want to get clever, make them so that
.net objects can be passed through them.
- The ability to get input from the person running the script and stash it into an environment variable. Give me a standard way of doing this.
- Starting a new command that creates a new process, instead of running in the current one. I hate running
.cmd files that change the current directory.
Unix is what it is because it is NOT monolithic. There are a variety of tools out there to allow the admins to select the ones they want, with all of their associated blemishes, and get the job done. The biggest benefit of UNIX is there is literlly thousands of ways to do things, and more importantly, thousands of simple ways.Give us the KISS shell, and you might actually convert me.
You just proved my point. You HAVE to have IE on the machine, you can't get rid of it even if you don't use it. Therefore, you have to constantly patch it.
To your other point, there are both open source and commercial versions of SSH, VPN, and SSL. Because there are options, it is very difficult for one security hole to affect all Unix servers.
Real, secure Unix servers are built secure from the ground up. Real, secure Unix servers have special installation procedures that do not install software they don't need and don't have to rely on the network to remain secure. Windows servers have to be built and then secured by registry hacks, disabling software, etc, and rely partly on network security to remain that way. There is a huge difference in the security models because of it.
And if you don't understand the difference, you shouldn't be an admin.
Can we both agree?? I said keep it patched, not use it. It is on the Windows machine, you have to have it because you can't get rid of it. Therefore, you have to patch it. Which was one of the points I was trying to make. Windows machines create insecurity by requiring the installation of software you may not use or need.
Now, they are ingraining DRM into the kernel and god nows what else. All will have to be routinely patched, even on servers that have nothing to do with the Internet or MP3s.
To address a few valid things you brought up --
NIS/NFS/RPC --- yeah, not having it sucks. But having it also sucks. Using it inside a network on workstations that doesn't have inbound internet access?? OK, I'll buy that. NIS+, limited usage, NFS mounting of only the home directory. Using them on production servers in a a system that transfers money?? I don't think so.
SSH/VPN access to remote servers -- I had a job where I managed several Sun servers remotely. We used a vpn into the office from home/laptops, then another vpn/ssh to an admin server that would only accept public/private key (long pass phrases) authentication from specific IP addresses, then ssh to the servers that would only accept private/public key authentication from the admin servers. Plus a few other things in the way I won't go into. Was it perfect? No, but at least someone had to do a lot of work to figure it out. Root could not create an ssh connection, you had to log in as yourself and su to root.
SNMP/Remote monitoring -- one-way monitoring, production servers send specific info to monitor servers, who gather and forward it to the main monitoring service. No heartbeat? time for an alert. Routers and such send syslog info to syslog server. Perfect? No, but you had to be inside on the secure network to do anything, and we would have been toast by then anyway.
SSL -- Don't get that, you don't need SSL for VPN. At least I don't think so.
- W1 Internet Information Services (IIS) - Keep it patched
- W2 Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) - Keep it patched and don't connect it to the web
- W3 Windows Authentication - Create and enforce password policies
- W4 Internet Explorer (IE) - Keep it patched
- W5 Windows Remote Access Services - Don't use it/keep it patched/hack the registry
- W6 Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) - Keep it patched
- W7 Windows Scripting Host (WSH) - Disable it
- W8 Microsoft Outlook Outlook Express - Remove it
- W9 Windows Peer to Peer File Sharing (P2P) - Don't install it
- W10 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) - Disable it unless you know what you are doing
Unix break/Fixes can be simplistically be broken down this way:- U1 BIND Domain Name System - Don't install or use an alternative and only on DNS servers
- U2 Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) - Don't install it, period. Nasty, nasty, little things.
- U3 Apache Web Server - Don't install it except on web servers and only install modules you need
- U4 General UNIX Authentication Accounts with No Passwords or Weak Passwords - Create and enforce password policies
- U5 Clear Text Services - Don't install them, use alternatives
- U6 Sendmail - Don't install, use an alternative, and only install on mail servers
- U7 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) - Don't install it unless you know what you are doing
- U8 Secure Shell (SSH) - Keep up to date with patches and don't allow access from Internet except over VPN
- U9 Misconfiguration of Enterprise Services NIS/NFS - Don't install them
- U10 Open Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) - Don't install or install only where needed and keep up to date with patches
The best choice is if you don't need it, don't install it. If software isn't on the machine, it can't be hacked.Of course, with Unix, at least you have that choice......
Why would I want a cell phone/pda/mp3/etc. in my shirt/pants/jacket/etc? That would mean I would have to either wear the same shirt/pants/jacket/etc every day, or several articles of clothing would need to be wired.
And if that happened, which one would ring when I got a call and was in the shower?? The towel or the toilet cover??
I have a simple morning routine...
- Wake up
- Turn computer on
- relieve bladder, shower and other personal stuff, put on underwear
- log on
- get fully dressed
- computer up and ready. Shut off before I go to work
And another when I get home- Turn computer on
- relieve bladder, get necessary nutrients for evening (Hot Pockets!!!!)
- log on
- change clothes to shorts and tshirt. Get Hot Pockets from microwave
- computer up and ready. Shut off before I go to sleep
About the only thing MRAM would save me is all the walking I do between steps. But then, I'm a 44 year old white male techie who could lose a few pounds, and it's about the only excercise I get.Oh wait
Opps.....I wonder how many spelling police will respond ;-)
For the sake of argument, assume that it is true that the DCMA legally prevents me from breaking an encryption that a movie production company has placed on it's DVD to prevent me from copying it, ignoring for the moment the side discussion that copyright laws says I can make copies for my own use. A legal argument can be put forth in court because there are two parties involved in this contract and encryption scheme... MGM and me. It doesn't make any difference what the encryption method is, MGM has used it specifically so anyone who has access to the media can't copy it, because they own the rights to the content and they say so. (OK
Why would that law prevent me from breaking the encryption on a document that I have created? I do it all the time in order to read it, so what is the problem if I want to do it in order to use it from another program?
Where is it said that I cannot provide a product that enables a user to decrypt documents that they already own,that they have created, or given someone else the right to read? It's not breaking an encryption if it's your own document, is it?? If I can reverse engineer the method M$ is using to extract the key and decrypt it, and use all the authentication M$ is using, why would that not be legal??
It appears to me that it would only be illegal to provide a method to break the encryption of a document that someone does not have a right to.
Just wondering.....
Wanna hear something sad?? I have Unix developers who want root access because when they type 'find / malloc.c', it returns too many 'permission denied' messages. I tried to explain that if they tack on '2>/dev/null' onto the end, the errors messages would go away and they would still find their file.
Their response?? That's too much work.
It doesn't make any difference how tech-savy someone is. Secure systems by their nature prevent access to features. If the perception is that it takes longer to get something done because of the security, people want security turned off.
That's part of the reason why M$ so insecure, Bill Gate$ has made it too easy to use. My fiancee runs her XP laptop without any login, just turn it on and there you are. So much for security. I gave up trying to explain to her why she needs to login to use it. The standard answer is it takes too much time.
I guess getting to email and solitare quickly are more important than making sure all the personal data she has on it is safe.
Didn't say I shop there, now did I??? Even though the produce prices are pretty good, they tend to go bad before I get around to eating them (need more preservatives!). Once my lady gets here and I actually start cooking again, probably will since it is on my way home.
I understood your original comment about my son too, no apology necessary. He and my ex-wife do not get along at all. He didn't go the 'HS jock/college/MBA' route, and she got very upset. He knows dad is a bona-fide establishment/almost republican kind of person, and I know he will make a great one when he is 35 and gotten over this phase. Or at least that's how I tease him.
And Kudos for riding your bike and being Sierra clubber, I don't want to sound like I was belittling it either. A little too environmental oriented for my personal tastes, but Hey!, that's what makes the world go round and keeps the truck-driven, gas-guzzlen, cow-eaten varmits like me in check. It would be a very boring and dangerous place if we all agreed, now wouldn't it.
You can send an email to fredisdead at coxdotnet if you want to take me up on the truck. It's a disposable account, so if anyone else gets it and bothers me, I'll just close it. I use it for any web form that needs an email address.
Later dude....
Very nice response, well above the usual crap that passes for replies here. And that is not sarcasm. I half expected a 'am not, am too' type response.
Hmmmm....too lazy to bike to work. Rather judgemental, aren't you? I could spend 40-60 minutes a day driving, or three hours a day biking (40 miles RT, avg. 12-15MPH). I think laziness is a factor in there a little bit, granted. But the one time I biked to work, I then spent several minutes in a sweat dreanced very unpleasant state. And that was when it was in the mid 70s. Most mornings now it's closer to 90. I've always been a sweater, even when I was in shape. As I mentioned, I also work in the tech industry. Two weeks ago I had three 12-15 hour days. I really don't relish riding my bike home at 10PM. Maybe come Nov. I'll try it again after my girlfriend moves here in three weeks so she could come and get me. She's moving from ME to AZ in the hottest, muggiest time of the year. Poor thing.
Oh, I live 20 miles from work because I want to live 2 1/2 miles. Confused?? I live where I live because the part of our company I want to work at is 2 1/2 miles from here. But my current desk is 20 miles away. So, biking will probably be in my future.
So, the only real difference is our definition of 'necessary'. You don't mind driving if it is your definition of 'inconvienent'. Just like all the Sierra clubbers, 'Oh, I'm much better than you because my definition of inconvienent is a lot lower'. That's a BS argument. If 10 lbs of pollution is bad, then 1lb is bad. You can't both belittle attitudes then turn around and justify polluting a little because someone does it more. Those arguments don't wash with me. You think that if everyone biked you could afford to rent that car or truck? How high would car/gas prices go if everyone biked? You indirectly benefit from the million AZers that drive trucks when you rent one.
I won't deny the accuracy of the statement, that it's best to pollute as little as possible. If I could afford three vehicles(my truck and my girlfriends car are two), then the third would be a small sports car. Maybe in a couple of years when the truck is paid off. One of those little two seaters, maybe a hybrid or F/C car if their out. But I find it difficult to reconcile the higher cost of a car (I have a cheaper truck) v/s the convienence of owning a truck today. (There's that convienence thing again.) My girlfriend has a car, and we drive that most other times. Well, we did when I lived in Maine.
Damn right I'm selfish. I have a truck because not having one is inconvienent. I went from a 20-25MPG car to a 17-21MPG truck when my car gave out on me because I didn't have a truck for three years and it sucked. The top of my car was all scratched up from all the hauling I did. And renting is also inconvienent, and downright 'spensive.
Speaking of which, don't rent a truck. If you don't know anyone with a truck, then we can try to figure out how to exchange email addresses privately and I'll help you move. It's a lot more fun to argue in person!!!!
Which brings us to my son. Don't feel sorry for my son. He loves his dad and our arguments. We have had some great knock-down, drag-out debates over vegan/carnivore choices. Then I would drive him to the food co-op in Tempe (Wild Oats sucks) and help him make good choices because he doesn't know how to shop. Too bad he doesn't live in AZ anymore, the two of you would get along great (he also bikes everywhere). He's back in Maine (didn't like AZ heat in May the wus). We often disagree, but he also knows his dad will support his choices. At least he's not gay (that's a joke, don't go all PC on me.)
Have fun camping, I hope it's up North.
Yada yada yada...
... just presenting an alternate opinion.)
You remind me of my vegan 18 year old son. Give me a call in 20 years when you are making the big big bucks and getting old(er) and work 12 hours days 8 times a month, and 36 hour days twice a month without any compensation or advance notice.
If you have biked or taken a bus everyone of those days, then you can stand tall on your high horse and shout. But if you drove just once, then take it all back.
I used to live in Maine, and before that Ohio, and biked every nice day to work. When I lived in Maine, I biked every single summer day for two years because I didn't have a car.
You know what, it sucked. Not every day, but most days. Between the traffic, heat, humidity, and rain, it sucked. And AZ traffic and drivers are the most impolite bunch of SOBs I've ever met. No way in hell I would bike everyday on the street, and the many bikepaths only get me close to work. I still have to ride a couple of miles down University. I rode, once, and vowed never to do it again. Ok, not true. I've threatened to do it again.
And piss off about the truck. I have a truck because I need a truck. I needed a truck when I lived in Maine, I needed a truck when I moved to AZ, and I need a truck here. I'm passed the point in my life when buying a 35" TV or PVC pipe needs to be an adventure. My girlfriend has a car, and it only gets about 8 MPG more than mine. So pphpppttpt to the commuter car crap. I used to drive Escorts and Omnis and even a Yugo and got 35-40 MPG. But those cars all suck. No space to carry anything. You were lucky to be able to get a weeks worth of groceries for a family of 4 in them. (Now, if someone could come out with a decent hybrid truck, that I would buy....)
I don't half apologize for the tone of my rant, but as someone who has lived in many places in this country, there is no place yet I have found that biking to work more than a couple of miles doesn't suck.
All of you twenty-somethings can have all the sucking fun.
I take it you have turned off the AC in your house and office also. Good for you. I don't mind some of the heat, but I also don't mind spending 75 bucks a month to keep my apartment around 83 degrees. That's right, my thermostat is set at 83, not 75, or 72 or 68 . I walk around all day in shorts and no shirt and scare all the neighbors that might look into my window. My Arizona friends that come over think I'm nuts, but when I lived in Maine, if I kept my house warm then it was very, very cold when I went outside. So I do the opposite here and find that I don't mind being outside in 110 degree days. At least, not in June and early July.
(Don't go all Sierra Club on me
Oh yeah...
I didn't spring for the auto-route models, just one with a basic map. But the Phoenix metro-area is on it and it has saved my hide, literally.
Imagine, if you will, driving 2700 miles to a new land. Upon arriving, you take all of your belongings inside, and then proceed to return the UHaul. But you take a wrong turn, into the Twilight zone (it got dark). No landmarks, everything is flat, and I don't know squat about the area. Granted, having a city map probably would have been a GOOD IDEA. But I whipped it out (my GPS that is) and got home without any problems.
My vote is definitely GPS. But, there shouldn't be any reason why Magellin or Garmin couldn't provide some type of adapter to receive the transmissions.
Unless...OH MY GOD!!!! It's not OPEN SOURCE!! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!
Or not.....
This made me laugh. Living in Phoenix, AZ this is exactly how I plan my day. If I can't leave for work by 7:00am, I leave at 8:15am. If I can't leave work by 4:30pm, I stay until 5:30pm. I listen to NPR 15 minutes before I leave home, and sit in my large gas-guzzlin truck for 5 minutes while the AC cools it down and try to catch it before I leave. I drive in one of the right most lanes so I can get off the road at the first sign of trouble. Driving smart gets me the 20 miles home most days in 20-30 minutes.
Those who will suggest biking to work as an alternative should be forced to bike 20 miles in 100-115 degree heat to and from a workplace without a shower. Some do it, and my helmet is tipped off to them. But not this undertall, athletic-ability challenged geek.
Would I buy one?? Depends on the cost. But not if I have to pay a monthly fee. I'm getting 5 and 10 dollar-a-monthed to death as it is. NPR is free, except for the suckers that pay for it. BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!
Did you even read my posting?? I didn't say it wasn't a good idea, I just said MOST people wouldn't use it, and I wasn't getting very excited over it. I would probably use it, you would probably use it, and other anal geeks like us who spend hours getting the most out of our systems will probably use it. But Joe Average down the street, the same guy who doesn't know where his downloads end up, won't use it. So, in my humble opinion, it is bloat.
/. effect.
And, to use your example, what if the file system used it's existing file type/program associations, and if you wanted a detailed view, the associated program would sneak into the file and display the information for you? Isn't that what happens now with Word and Excel? What this file system is doing is duplicating the information already in the file and storing it in the file system.
It would be very easy to add an option in the file association tab in Windows so that an executable can be run to extract the summary information from the file. No change to the existing file system format would even need to be done.
Two ways to get at the same data. One pays a penalty for when you want the data (extra I/O to open the file and look at it), the other pays a penalty for every file stored (redundant data storage.) These are common compromises made in every database by the designers, and there is no one correct answer.
My preference would be for the former. It is far more flexible and mirrors my view that the OS (including the file system) should manage resources and not data. If I want and/or need an advanced file browser or file system, let me buy one, but put the hooks into the OS to support alternatives.
<rant>But, that is not the way of the M$. They are far better at creating proprietary methods that lock you into the 'one true way' that the megalomaniac Bill Gates sees the future as. </rant>
Sorry about that rant,
Let's get one thing straight ... many of these features are already available in one form or another and no one uses them.
... I'm not against having an FS that enables you to annotate files outside of the programs that create them. I remember working many years ago with FSs that would allow you to automatically keep the last n revisions, which was very helpful when coding.
How many people click on Properites in M$Word and put in the information?? How many people download files and leave them lying in whatever directory they just happen to fall in.
Don't take me wrong
It's just that I have a hard time getting excited over something that is going to simply bloat a system and the odds are no one will use.
My girlfriend is fairly smart, but she still downloads all her pictures into the default folder, and uses thumbnails to find the ones she wants. She has about 1000 of them, and it only takes here a few minutes to find the ones she wants. It would take here no extra work than what this new FS is suggesting to rename the file and/or store it in another folder
Useful feature, bloatware, Linux beater, or disaster waiting to happen. My guess is all of the above, at one time or another. Some people will use it and spend hours cross-linking files. I'm sure the initial releases will have security or data loss issues until the bugs get worked out. It will take 0.10 minutes for some Linux hacker to reverse engineer the ability to at least read it. And it will probably take up gobs more memory.
It's all a matter of perspective....
You're right of course, why would I want to park in a lot that is close by and is monitored by security? I just love hauling servers across four lanes of busy traffic in 90 degree/75% humidity. It's great excercise and helps to burn in the equipment. I love carrying 100 pound servers by myself and dodging cars. It helps to burn off my 500 lbs of fat. Besides, if I get hit by a car, my company has insurance and I could collect workers comp. It's also great parking in a hotel parking lot that has no security. I don't really need the thousands of dollars in computer and diagnostic equipment I have in my trunk. I didn't pay for it, so why should I worry about it.
... just buy a faster server' even though they only know how to write single-threaded applications that have no concept of recoverability or scalability and couldn't take advantage of a larger server anyway.
The poster sounds like one of those lazy, self-important, junior developers who have absolutly no idea what it takes to set up a system. One that is always screaming 'My program doesn't suck
Maybe someday he'll grow up...
...when all of your data centers are unoccupied by paying customers.
...
I used to work for a customer of Exodus/Cable Wireless, and saw the exodus from Exodus. I remember the boom years when I only went in on Sunday because that was the only day I could get a parking spot and not have to park across the street. I remember when you could see Dell and Compaq and Gateway and Sun systems in every cage, wall to wall. When you could sit in your cage and have conversations with two or three other customers and learn some really neat stuff. Where the soda and chips were only 25 cents. Where security walked you to your cage and unlocked it for you.
The last few years saw the datacenter become a ghost town. Granted, it was a 62 degree ghost town, but still a ghost town. Where every cage around ours became empty, and we even went from a full cage to a half cage thanks to faster and smaller equipment. The parking lots are never full, soda and chips are now priced the same as everywhere, and no one to talk with. And now security gives you the key to your cage and you walk past rows of empty plastic-coated wire mesh cages.
How do you lose money?? Because you have to run a gazillion foot data center, with all of it's associated infrastructure needs, and you don't have any customers in it. Compare it to the cost of running an apartment building if it is only half occupied. There are still maintenance costs, but now you only have half the tenants to cover it. You still have to heat and cool the empty apartments, although not the same as the rest, and you have no one to pay for it.
Don't get me wrong though. I loved the facility. It was clean and well maintained. I could get away from the home office and work without being interrupted. I didn't have to worry about AC and power and network outside of our cage. If C&W was still a viable company, there would be no hesitation about using them for a data center.
But the 90's are over
Sun has always provided the OS for free on lower-end systems, and charged on the high-end based on the number of CPUs. All the other high-end system manufacturers do this, except for the free part.
.. I wish MS would follow this model.</rant>
Now that Sun is offering Linux, they will need a way to break out the costs, so that customers that prefer Linux might be offered a price break over customers that prefer Solaris for specific tasks. For instance, webservers and app servers might see no real need for any additional costs for Solaris, but a 75 CPU database server might want the additional features.
This method also provides the capability of pricing support appropriatly. I know, you MS people might not be familiar with this concept, but Sun has been providing support for their OS for years, and not charging by the hour when you call with a problem. Sun bundles OS and hardware support into one number for low end systems. Again, by breaking the pricing out, different support costs can be offered for the different OSes.
Sun support has always provided, cumulative patch sets that can often be applied without reboots. <rant>I built a W2K box yesterday and had to boot over 7 times after the initial install of the OS as I applied various patches. It took me most of the morning to get all the patches installed. I pay for this support so that I can call up a technician that has the resources available to answer my questions. Sheesh
I'm tired of being 'told' by the phone companies and society in general that I need more than a freakin phone. Somehow, if I only have a phone, I'm missing something. 'Oh, look how cool he is. He has a phone with a camera and gaming system and text messaging and email and web browser.'
... to each their own. I've had my Palm Vx for about 4 years now, and have no desire to buy a newer one. When it breaks, I'll go research and buy a good value. But I'm not throwing away a perfectly good Palm and cheap-ass phone just because Nokia has 'the next big thing'.
.. I forgot. This is America. We need to fill up those landfills and spend our money regardless if whether or not we really need to.
I'm sorry, but I don't need to be so connected that I'm willing to put up with poor quality. I have yet to see any real WAP application I need, phones don't really make good gaming systems, and the cameras suck. Big Time.
And text messaging just sucks. I don't see the point of spending time trying to use a phone keypad to send a text message when YOU CAN JUST CALL THEM!!!! It's cute the first few times, but come one. Call me and tell me how good the band is, then put the phone in the air and let me listen. Use some of those 500 minutes a month, or those free evening and weekend minutes. My friends send my text messages, and then I call them and we talk about something in far greater detail and make a good decision. And laugh, and joke, and enjoy the human interaction, even if it is over a phone.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Palm Vx. I've got a ton of information at my fingertips. And I love taking my laptop into a hotel and plugging into a broadband connection. And our computer systems sends me text messages if something is causing a problem so I can decide if I need to do something about it and use my cell to telnet in and fix it.
It just seems that the push is to see how much they can cram into a device, whether or not it fits or is a real value is a moot point. My Palm is great for contacts, passwords, and shopping lists, but it makes a lousy email reader. It also made for a lousy gaming system. Why would I want to play anything other than solitare on a small screen when I can go home and have a 1280x1024 color system with full joystick/mouse/keyboard control. And I just can't see holding it up to my face to make a call with. It's too freakin big. But if you make the screen any smaller it would be next to worthless.
Hey
Oh
All I really want is a goddamn phone. I like my Palm just the way it is. And my camera.
... none of you, because then when the next-big-thing comes along, you couldn't change just that one piece. When surround sound came out, I bought a new receiver, and then slowly added more speakers. I just bought a new DTS receiver, and guess what ... my speakers, DVD player, VCR, CD player, and TV all work just fine with it. I looked at some of the all-in-one units and they stunk. They were all missing features that I could only get my buying the individual components.
.. I'll admit the cheap TV/DVD over the hot tub is kinda cool, but you only use it a couple of times a week and can live without all the neat features. You wouldn't watch The Matrix on it, would you??
.. phone company...sell me a phone to make phone calls. I'll take care of finding the best for the rest.
Did you ever notice that most cell phone commercials now don't even talk about the PHONE!!!! All I really need from my cell phone I got in the cheapest one out there. Then I bought a serial cable so I can upload/download phone numbers a couple of times a month. Sure, USB or Bluetooth would be nice, but data really doesn't change that much.
What is with all this "Let's put everything into one device" anyway. How many of you geeks buy all-in-one entertainment systems? Or TVs w/VCRs and DVDs in them?
Answer
OK
So
We have been using NetSaint for years ... it runs on Linux, Solaris, and NT and exceeds our needs. It is tremendously configurable, supports remote reporting nodes, and is extremely light weight.
.. anyone care to tell me why I really care about this report, other than it showing how companies are taking Linux seriously? Because if they are, then it is time for them to start taking other Open Source software seriously, view what the competition provides, and start making their products more usable. I used to hear a saying, putting a dress on a pig doesn't make it a prom queen. Well, dressing up a pig using Linux doesn't get it a date on my server.
My prior exposure to Openview, Unicenter, and Tivoli are that they are bloated monstrosities better suited to pleasing upper management types who like pretty pictures (has anyone actually found 3D flythroughs to be effective?) than to sys admins and NOCs. They take way too much effort to setup, and suck system resources like crazy. Plus, the damn things cost a fortune to purchase and support.
So