I didn't say MS SQL couldn't do those things. I tried to point out that it is not a good idea to expect someone installing a database to not know anything about databases.
Once a particular database is 'understood', most databases, and programs in general, are easy to setup. I have been installing Oracle for years, and can set up databases with my eye's closed. So to me, Oracle is easier to use than SQLServer, only because I know nada about it.
To bring a little more perspective, I worked with an NT admin who knew NT inside and out, and was a very good admin. So good, he decided that it was no longer necessary to use the UNIX DNS servers for the desktops, but would setup his own. So, because MS DNS is all point, click, drag, drop, select the defaults, he did. But because he did not understand DNS and a little concept called forwarding, no one could browse the Internet the next day.
Was this Microsoft's fault?? Of course not. Was it their fault because they made the GUI so easy to use any moron could setup DNS? Of course not. It was the admin's fault for thinking that just because he can click, click and set something up, he must know what he is doing.
So, to get back to my original point. Ease of use is directly perportional to how much you know about what you are doing. Once you understand something fully, many times it is very easy to use. Even vi!
Heaven forbid you actually have to learn something about a database before you install and use it. Why, just about anyone could set one up if you didn't need to know anything.
And that is exactly why MS is around. Any moron (nothing personal mind you, just a generality) can set up a MS SQL database engine. Or for that matter, DNS, mail, etc.
Why should you need to know the things Oracle (or Postgress or MySql) asks you to? Because you need to know what the f*ck you are doing if you are going to manage any database that is important. How many disks should you use? Which data sets go on which disk? How about indexes? What ports should I use and why should I not use the defaults? Where are the default passwords? Why should my commit files be on different disks from my data and indexes?? Why do I need more than one copy of the parameter or control file?
If someone doesn't know the answer to the above questions, then they have no business calling themselves a DBA, or installing a real database that someone else uses or depends on.
Or, in other words, just because you can start a car doesn't mean you get to drive on the freeway.....you have to learn how to use it without killing anyone first.
Great game engine
on
IBM's Deep View
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· Score: 5, Interesting
Just did the same thing last night. Now that I have broadband, a modem does me very little good.
So, there I sit, in our computer room with two PCs, two Macs, and a laptop. The PCs and Macs all have NICs and can plug into the network, but my girlfriend needed her laptop so she could sit in bed after knee surgery.
I borrowed a PCMCIA card from work, but I didn't have the drivers. I could have downloaded them at work and burned a CD I suppose, but that would have required planing while at work.
So, connect to 3com.com with a PC, download to floppy, install on laptop w/Win95, and 5 minutes later we is surfing the net.
BTW -- we are surfing the net on a 5 year old box using IE 5.5 (IE6 is not supported on Win95) with only 24M of memory and 2GB of disk space. Can you say MS=Bloatware???? (Couldn't resist... sorry...)
Most cruft can be attributed to users who do not take the time to learn about their computers and what it takes to maintain them. How many people go out and buy a new hard drive when they run out of disk space instead of going through the add/remove programs in Windows, RPM manager in Linux, or wander through all directories and check for things no longer needed.
I have lived with 10GB for two years now just by pruning cruft whenever I get less than 300MB free. I would love to spend $100 on 80GB, but that would only lead to more cruft.
Linux/Unix does hold one bit over Windows, there is no single directory that becomes crufted. (Please... I know everything falls off of slash... work with me here...) How big is your WinNT directory?? Mine is 1.24GB, and contains 9,191 files. That is 12% of my hard drive space, and 10% of all files, including my p0rn! Linux/Unix doesn't put all of its eggs into one basket, making it a little easier to prune the cruft that builds up, or at least a little less dangerous.
Face it, unless you and I are willing to spend many hours pruning the cruft on a regular basis, it is often easier to delete and rebuild. Oh yeah... another thing Linux/Unix has in its favor. If I put all the user directories on a separate partition, I don't lose all my settings when I reinstall Linux.
Bad registry...evil registry...corrupted registry...
Our company had to set up a complete production system that was redundant and had to be administered remotely (120 miles away). That is why we went with Solaris servers and OpenSSH/VanDyke Windows client, and tossed MS for the servers out. Of course, we were fortunate enough that none of our applications had to run on a specific platform (web server, weblogic, Oracle, C++, and Java).
Why am I telling you all this?? Not to bash MS. I ask that you look really close at your requirements and remote administration. Do they say 'I have to run on Windows??'. If not, maybe it's time to look elsewhere for solutions.
Nothing to do with security or scalability or reliability (ok... maybe a little) but when it came right down to brass tacks, Unix is far easier and has far more options to administer remotely than Windows. That darn command line thing where I can change any setting easily from using a 24K dialup modem is a godsend when doing remote administration.
If you have to have a Windows solution, I saw a lot of good ones above that we use, Cygwin and VanDyke being my favorite.
Whenever I see a unit like this, I think of my garage.
I'm sure you are thinking, "WTF is he talking about."
Well...let me tell you. I look into my garage and I see a snowblower, a lawnmower, and a generator. Each of these does the same thing, burn gas (petrol) and create mechanical motion. One thing cuts grass (circular motion with a sharp blade), the other throws snow (circular motion with a reel), and and the third makes electricity (circular motion with a... well generator). I've often wondered why I have to buy three motors, why can't I use one motor and just attach it to the what I need to run at the time. I rarely need to use any three of these things at the same time. (OK Einstein, I know that each has different power requirements, don't go all techinical on me here. This is a metaphor. Remember that from Literature class??)
What can't someone make a device that that does nothing except process inputs, store and retrieve data, and play CounterStrike everyday at lunchtime. (I love my job!!!). Why can't they create a keyboardless, monitorless 'computer' with only a CPU, memory, and a disk drive (maybe a small battery so I can move it from one device to another w/o powering down) that I could plug into my desktop, laptop, PDA, or even my cell phone. I would think that would be pretty damn small. I rarely use any of these items at the same time.
Now I can have my high-end video card in my desktop, a small color LCD panel for my PDA, or a smaller B/W for my phone and not have to transfer data from one place to another.
Am I the only one who really read this, or did I not read it right.
I saw places where it said "..and the police can order you to hand over your keys" or '..such and such a company has to register with the officials', but nowhere did it say '...you can't use encryption'. (I do agree that the key escrow stuff is very bad though.)
Just like a gun, ecnryption can be used for good things (hiding my p0rn from my girlfriend), or bad (emailing terrorism plots to agents.) In this country (USA), if the police have enough evidence, they can go to a judge and get a very specific search warrant. So, if they accuse me of having illegal p0rn (instead of just the good stuff), they can search my computer till the cows come home. But if they find a terrorism plot, they can't use that information.
To follow that point, what is wrong with issuing a search warrant and demanding that I decrypt the data?? I may not like it, especially if I'm guilty or don't want to share my p0rn, but I don't see where that is any different than letting the police go through a drug dealers house looking for drugs. Ok...there is that fifth amendment thing, so maybe a law like that couldn't even be enacted in the US.
And so what if company X has to register with the government. They probably had to get a business permit anyway, and if they do anything novel they probably have patents. Not too many companies survive by being secret about their existance.
I have only had one problem. The Capital One site works, but if you try to login with Mozilla 1.0, you get a 'non-compatible browser' page that they created. Now, our company does the same thing, but only if your encryption is below 128 bit.
I fired off a friendly email to them suggesting that maybe they should update the HTTP_USER_AGENT they check, and their response was basically a friendly 'nuts to you, we will fix it later if we feel like it' message.
If they can control what authorized software is, that means they could authorize software to run for only a certain period of time, forcing you to upgrade.
I wish Microsoft would take the Sun Solaris approach, where programs that ran 5-7 years ago are guaranteed to run on the latest platform. Sun upgrades are available, and I pay for them. But that also gives me 24x7 support. If I don't want to upgrade, I don't have to and everything works fine.
I wouldn't mind paying several hundred dollars a year for a software subscription if decent support came with it.
One summer I camped out for 5 weeks (winter rental expired and it was a while before I could find another place.) Being a person who likes quiet, I went all the way to the back of the campground. (Stay with me... this is relavant.) About 2am, I thought a 747 was landing next to my tent. The ground was shaking and I could hardly think straight. 100 yards away was a switching track where trains waited to pass another. Idling wasn't bad, but when they kicked that diesel into gear.......
NIMBY is right. I would never allow one of these things to be running 24x7 within a mile from where I live.
My hosts file has 220 such items in it. It is wonderful to see a webpage pop up with lots of images not drawn!!!!
Unfortunately, Mozilla feels obligated to tell me each time it fails. I think I need to add a webserver to my machine, running on localhost, and have it serve up some type of blocker indicator gif, html, or jpeg each time it gets a request.
Why are my document files stored one way, my contacts another way, and my e-mail and instant-messaging buddy list still another, and why aren't they related to my calendar or to one another and easy to search en masse?
I can't recall the last time I needed to search all of this stuff at the same time. Guess I don't need this option
Why can't my computer protect me from distractions by screening phone calls and e-mails, and why can't it track me down when I'm out of the office or forward things to me automatically?
That's funny...I thought I already had those things. Our CRM package handles incoming call screening, and my system forwards emails to me on my cell phone. Most modern modems contain caller-id chips that can be used to display incoming phone numbers on the computer display. A buddy of mine even has his caller-id show up on his TV. And Exchange already comes with the ability to create rules, with Junk Email and Adult Email filters already built in.
Why can't our computers arrange conference calls and online meetings for us?
First off, you do need to actually type in the names of people to conference in. If you then press the 'Autopick' button -- Surprise!! It finds the first open time for all the people.
Of course, if Mr. Gates would open the calendar portion of Exchange a little bit, other programs could access the calendar, maybe even between organizations. But that would require some kind of security. Maybe an Open-source calendar system would be better anyway.
Why is it so hard for a soccer mom to set up a simple Website and e-mail group to keep people informed about who's driving and who's bringing treats?
If Soccer Mom can't use Frontpage already, she shouldn't be allowed to make web pages at all. And do you really want little Tommy's appointment schedule on the Internet??
Why can't I tap into all my stuff at home or at work from any device that's mine, and have it just be available because it knows I'm me?
Um....can you say VPN and X-Windows/telnet??
Why can't I read digital versions of magazines on my portable computer that look the way they're supposed to look?
I don't even understand this. I have downloaded books to my Palm, and I already use my computer to read Infoworld, Slashdot, et. al.
Come on Bill.... try something innovative. Maybe then I'll get excited.
You have to be trusted by the people you lie to -- Pink Floyd
I just broke down and paid $30 for MusicMatch, and am also paying $5 a month for advertisement-free Internet radio. Why?? Because it beats all the free stuff. The music quality is much higher and more consistant than when I was using WinAmp and listening to free music stations.
I am now spending MORE on music than before. Why?? Here is why (Moby.. please take note...)
MusicMatch appears to pay royalties for music played. I don't know this for sure, and don't really care, but they did mention that they cannot play the same artist more than X times an hour.
I'm buying more CDs. When I hear a tune I like, I can click and put the CD on my wish list. I start to notice trends around artists, and go out and buy their CDs. Before, I would only buy CDs I had heard, and since I don't listen to radio much, my purchasing has gone way down in the 10 years.
So...Moby and all the other non-techies that don't 'get it', pay attention to why you are really losing fans.
You have to be trusted by the people you lie to... Pink Floyd
Remember the old puzzle?? How many grooves on a record?? Two.. one on each side.
This is an issue where size shouldn't matter. Record grooves started on the outside, so the dumb needle had to know what size the record was in order to be placed down. CDs start the 'groove' in the center. So other than having the same, standard sized hole in the middle, there is nothing that prevents a CD player from playing a 2", 4", or 12' CD as long as it can accomodate the physical CD.
The only thing that may prevent CDs from not even having a hole at all are the speed and size of the data in the inner rings v/s the outer and having to hold and spin the CD. Just start at the center and work the laser out until it finds something it can read.
I don't think that the fight was in any way a detriment to the character, it actually just enhances his mystique.
I don't think that people object to Yoda fighting, it was the way in which he fought. Movies have somehow perpetuated the idiotic notion that martial arts is about jumps and flips. I think it would have been far, far, more impressive if Yoda moved around a lot less and demonstrated his skill with the speed, accuracy and ability to rapidly change his sabre strokes. He expended a lot of useless energy bouncing around. Remember, when you're doing a flip, you're basically defenseless and not doing any real attack. You would think that a wise old Jedi like Yoda would be able to use some pretty efficient moves on Dooku.
I thought the fight scene was just silly, to coin a Monty Python phrase. And now that you mention it, it would have been more appreciated if it Yoda fought in a slow, deliberate mode, more like the character in 'Remo Williams' or dodging bullets in 'The Matrix'. Just step out of the way and let the assailant expend all of their energy.
Just a thought. I laughed during the whole thing and thought it was very stupid. The fight scene that is, not the movie. Ok, the bit on the assembly line was stupid also. And Jar Jar. But that was it. Ok, the fact that the movie was just oozing 'make a video game out of me' was also stupid. Oh yea, and Amadalia losing half her clothes, although much appreciated, was also stupid.
OK, the whole movie was stupid. But I always liked mindless entertainment....
I'm 5'9" (1.7 m) and 225lbs (100Kg). I've also been touch typing for about 25 years. Now....everyone play along with this and find out where your neutral position is. I'll bet it's probably not the same as mine.
First off, let's assume that the vertical position of your hands is actually better.
Place your hands like the one's in the picture of the Safetype keyboard. Now, when I do this, I feel a pressure in my sholders suggesting that my hands should be closer together... my arms more like a V than parallel. I measured it, and the most comfortable position is my fingertips about 4 inches (10cm) apart.
Now, look at your hands and wiggle your fingers as if you were typing. When I do this, my fingers are curled and move towards and away from me, not on the side like the Safetype keyboard. Except for my thumb, it moves up and down. Even neater.
So, my 10 minute research suggests that they take their keyboard and rotate it away from the body, and allow the user to control the distance between the two halves. Also, move the space bar, and maybe a few other keys like caps and esc to the top for the thumbs. THAT would be more ergonomic than the contraption they have.
The only drawback I can see, and the Safetype keyboard would have the same problem, is that my hands rest on the outside edges. I would guess that this would be very irritating after awhile.
We are a Linux/Solaris shop, and I've done HP before. If I had to install AIX, HP-UX, BSD, or any other Unix flavor, I would jump at the chance to add another notch to my belt. My personal opinion is that it would not be that big a deal for us.
Some thoughts about previous post topics and how they relate to my own personal experiences:
Backups of dissimular Unix flavors would not be a problem, because we use Veritas Datacenter and a single 30 cartridge 2-headed tape jukebox.
Our developers hardly understand UNIX, and the sysadmins maintain the scripts in production. So bouncing between linux and solaris is no real big deal for them
General admin isn't too much of a problem. NIS+, NFS and Samba make sharing directories and administering users fairly easy. Central print spoolers using lpd and Samba, plus imaged builds make maintenance fairly simple.
Security is the biggest issue. I can skip most patches for Sun and Linux unless there is a specific problem, but we have to watch and install the security ones. Sun packages and RPMs are easy to install remotely, but sometimes the fix is to chmod some file, so we either write a script or visit each machine. SSH makes this bearable.
So, my take on your question is that it will depend on the quality of the system admins on how much work it will be.
I've written code (as many others have) for 25 years, starting with Fortran and assembler on punchcards, working with TRS-80 Basic, spending several years with COBOL, using perl, Java, C/C++, and such over the last 10 years, and other languages to unique or propriatary to remember. The concepts that have lasted through all the languages and methodologies, from spaghetti assembler, top-down and structured COBOL programming and now object-oriented C++ and Java, are very simple.
Break down what is being developed into very small components, and make them as independant of everything else as possible.
Develop so that relationships between components can be easily understand to lessen the impacts of any change. (One hint to a student, can he envision a cube in his head and rotate it or unfold it?? If not, maybe programming isn't for him.)
Write reasonably good, self documenting, maintainable code that is consistent. Teach that it might be easier to use 'i' as a variable in a short loop, but loop-idx or object_idx make more sense.
Which leads into the next one, LEARN TO TYPE DAMMIT. Programmers spend their career at a keyboard, they should learn to use it efficiently. That means both hands and all the fingers. Throw in the feet if you can.
Write self checking code that handles errors in a concise, yet informative node. I hate 'segment fault' type messages. Trap the damn things and let someone have a general idea where it occured and what dataset was being worked on if possible.
There are probably a thousand some concepts that should be taught, but these are a few off the top of my bald head that shine through.
A little something called remote maintenance. Opps, forgot. Remote maintenance that is possible on a dial-up modem. Opps again. Please change that to the ability to rebuild, boot, change eeprom settings, power off and on, remotely using a 9600baud modem if I had to.
Faster is not always better. As a system admin with both NT and Unix systems, my goal is availability and managability first, savings second. Let's face it, I could rebuild a Sun Solaris box remotely with a Palm, a VT-100 emulator, and a cell modem from just about anywhere in the country if I had to.
Why is that important? I can only speak for my company, but being able to do the Sun maintenance from the comfort of our homes/desks is very important to me and my staff. We have equipment in remote locations (over 100 miles away from the office), and not having to drive over there to rebuild a server or install patches saves $100 in expenses, plus takes only 20 minutes instead of all day.
This is not a M$ bashing bit either. If we were using Linux on Intel we would have the same issues. What I need Intel to do is very simple, restore a serial console to the platform. Let me have access to the BIOS from the command line and during startup. Let me power on/power off equipment from the console port too.
I am a Unix Admin/Webmaster who does a lot of script coding. Because of the extensive use of special characters, I am constantly using my left little finger to hit the shift key. Using a regular keyboard results in pain and stiffness after a couple of hours. Now, being the reasonably intelligent person I am, I would take a short break and resume after a wonderful Mountain Dew.
But with my wonderful cheapa** Ergo keyboard (Belkin, bottom of the line), I am able to type for hours, even days, without every taking a break. My employer can abuse and degrade me now for hours upon end with no workman's comp issue in site!
OK, that is a bit of a stretch, but it is true that when I bought a cheap Belkin keyboard that angles the left and right ands I did experience less pain in my wrists.
But, to keep perspective, I used to use a keypunch machine, and the less than ergo chairs used to kill my back when I was a young man resulting in numerous trips to my doctor for manipulation and drugs. Ah....the good old days....
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I didn't say MS SQL couldn't do those things. I tried to point out that it is not a good idea to expect someone installing a database to not know anything about databases. Once a particular database is 'understood', most databases, and programs in general, are easy to setup. I have been installing Oracle for years, and can set up databases with my eye's closed. So to me, Oracle is easier to use than SQLServer, only because I know nada about it.
To bring a little more perspective, I worked with an NT admin who knew NT inside and out, and was a very good admin. So good, he decided that it was no longer necessary to use the UNIX DNS servers for the desktops, but would setup his own. So, because MS DNS is all point, click, drag, drop, select the defaults, he did. But because he did not understand DNS and a little concept called forwarding, no one could browse the Internet the next day.
Was this Microsoft's fault?? Of course not. Was it their fault because they made the GUI so easy to use any moron could setup DNS? Of course not. It was the admin's fault for thinking that just because he can click, click and set something up, he must know what he is doing.
So, to get back to my original point. Ease of use is directly perportional to how much you know about what you are doing. Once you understand something fully, many times it is very easy to use. Even vi!
Learning curves are another matter completely!!!
Heaven forbid you actually have to learn something about a database before you install and use it. Why, just about anyone could set one up if you didn't need to know anything.
And that is exactly why MS is around. Any moron (nothing personal mind you, just a generality) can set up a MS SQL database engine. Or for that matter, DNS, mail, etc.
Why should you need to know the things Oracle (or Postgress or MySql) asks you to? Because you need to know what the f*ck you are doing if you are going to manage any database that is important. How many disks should you use? Which data sets go on which disk? How about indexes? What ports should I use and why should I not use the defaults? Where are the default passwords? Why should my commit files be on different disks from my data and indexes?? Why do I need more than one copy of the parameter or control file?
If someone doesn't know the answer to the above questions, then they have no business calling themselves a DBA, or installing a real database that someone else uses or depends on.
Or, in other words, just because you can start a car doesn't mean you get to drive on the freeway.....you have to learn how to use it without killing anyone first.
Just did the same thing last night. Now that I have broadband, a modem does me very little good.
... sorry...)
So, there I sit, in our computer room with two PCs, two Macs, and a laptop. The PCs and Macs all have NICs and can plug into the network, but my girlfriend needed her laptop so she could sit in bed after knee surgery.
I borrowed a PCMCIA card from work, but I didn't have the drivers. I could have downloaded them at work and burned a CD I suppose, but that would have required planing while at work.
So, connect to 3com.com with a PC, download to floppy, install on laptop w/Win95, and 5 minutes later we is surfing the net.
BTW -- we are surfing the net on a 5 year old box using IE 5.5 (IE6 is not supported on Win95) with only 24M of memory and 2GB of disk space. Can you say MS=Bloatware???? (Couldn't resist
I don't know ... I was joking ....
Obviously the RIAA rep is not very tech savy. Of course, since their site was DoS'd, I would have to say that about the whole organization.
Most cruft can be attributed to users who do not take the time to learn about their computers and what it takes to maintain them. How many people go out and buy a new hard drive when they run out of disk space instead of going through the add/remove programs in Windows, RPM manager in Linux, or wander through all directories and check for things no longer needed.
... I know everything falls off of slash ... work with me here...) How big is your WinNT directory?? Mine is 1.24GB, and contains 9,191 files. That is 12% of my hard drive space, and 10% of all files, including my p0rn! Linux/Unix doesn't put all of its eggs into one basket, making it a little easier to prune the cruft that builds up, or at least a little less dangerous.
... another thing Linux/Unix has in its favor. If I put all the user directories on a separate partition, I don't lose all my settings when I reinstall Linux.
I have lived with 10GB for two years now just by pruning cruft whenever I get less than 300MB free. I would love to spend $100 on 80GB, but that would only lead to more cruft.
Linux/Unix does hold one bit over Windows, there is no single directory that becomes crufted. (Please
Face it, unless you and I are willing to spend many hours pruning the cruft on a regular basis, it is often easier to delete and rebuild. Oh yeah
Bad registry...evil registry...corrupted registry...
Our company had to set up a complete production system that was redundant and had to be administered remotely (120 miles away). That is why we went with Solaris servers and OpenSSH/VanDyke Windows client, and tossed MS for the servers out. Of course, we were fortunate enough that none of our applications had to run on a specific platform (web server, weblogic, Oracle, C++, and Java).
... maybe a little) but when it came right down to brass tacks, Unix is far easier and has far more options to administer remotely than Windows. That darn command line thing where I can change any setting easily from using a 24K dialup modem is a godsend when doing remote administration.
Why am I telling you all this?? Not to bash MS. I ask that you look really close at your requirements and remote administration. Do they say 'I have to run on Windows??'. If not, maybe it's time to look elsewhere for solutions.
Nothing to do with security or scalability or reliability (ok
If you have to have a Windows solution, I saw a lot of good ones above that we use, Cygwin and VanDyke being my favorite.
Whenever I see a unit like this, I think of my garage.
... well generator). I've often wondered why I have to buy three motors, why can't I use one motor and just attach it to the what I need to run at the time. I rarely need to use any three of these things at the same time. (OK Einstein, I know that each has different power requirements, don't go all techinical on me here. This is a metaphor. Remember that from Literature class??)
I'm sure you are thinking, "WTF is he talking about."
Well...let me tell you. I look into my garage and I see a snowblower, a lawnmower, and a generator. Each of these does the same thing, burn gas (petrol) and create mechanical motion. One thing cuts grass (circular motion with a sharp blade), the other throws snow (circular motion with a reel), and and the third makes electricity (circular motion with a
What can't someone make a device that that does nothing except process inputs, store and retrieve data, and play CounterStrike everyday at lunchtime. (I love my job!!!). Why can't they create a keyboardless, monitorless 'computer' with only a CPU, memory, and a disk drive (maybe a small battery so I can move it from one device to another w/o powering down) that I could plug into my desktop, laptop, PDA, or even my cell phone. I would think that would be pretty damn small. I rarely use any of these items at the same time.
Now I can have my high-end video card in my desktop, a small color LCD panel for my PDA, or a smaller B/W for my phone and not have to transfer data from one place to another.
Remember, you saw it here first!!!!
Am I the only one who really read this, or did I not read it right.
I saw places where it said "..and the police can order you to hand over your keys" or '..such and such a company has to register with the officials', but nowhere did it say '...you can't use encryption'. (I do agree that the key escrow stuff is very bad though.)
Just like a gun, ecnryption can be used for good things (hiding my p0rn from my girlfriend), or bad (emailing terrorism plots to agents.) In this country (USA), if the police have enough evidence, they can go to a judge and get a very specific search warrant. So, if they accuse me of having illegal p0rn (instead of just the good stuff), they can search my computer till the cows come home. But if they find a terrorism plot, they can't use that information.
To follow that point, what is wrong with issuing a search warrant and demanding that I decrypt the data?? I may not like it, especially if I'm guilty or don't want to share my p0rn, but I don't see where that is any different than letting the police go through a drug dealers house looking for drugs. Ok...there is that fifth amendment thing, so maybe a law like that couldn't even be enacted in the US.
And so what if company X has to register with the government. They probably had to get a business permit anyway, and if they do anything novel they probably have patents. Not too many companies survive by being secret about their existance.
So...tell me what is all the hub, bub.....
I have only had one problem. The Capital One site works, but if you try to login with Mozilla 1.0, you get a 'non-compatible browser' page that they created. Now, our company does the same thing, but only if your encryption is below 128 bit.
I fired off a friendly email to them suggesting that maybe they should update the HTTP_USER_AGENT they check, and their response was basically a friendly 'nuts to you, we will fix it later if we feel like it' message.
Oh well...I tried....
If they can control what authorized software is, that means they could authorize software to run for only a certain period of time, forcing you to upgrade.
I wish Microsoft would take the Sun Solaris approach, where programs that ran 5-7 years ago are guaranteed to run on the latest platform. Sun upgrades are available, and I pay for them. But that also gives me 24x7 support. If I don't want to upgrade, I don't have to and everything works fine.
I wouldn't mind paying several hundred dollars a year for a software subscription if decent support came with it.
One summer I camped out for 5 weeks (winter rental expired and it was a while before I could find another place.) Being a person who likes quiet, I went all the way to the back of the campground. (Stay with me ... this is relavant.) About 2am, I thought a 747 was landing next to my tent. The ground was shaking and I could hardly think straight. 100 yards away was a switching track where trains waited to pass another. Idling wasn't bad, but when they kicked that diesel into gear.......
NIMBY is right. I would never allow one of these things to be running 24x7 within a mile from where I live.
But I do love trains......no.....really.....
Of course!!!!
My hosts file has 220 such items in it. It is wonderful to see a webpage pop up with lots of images not drawn!!!!
Unfortunately, Mozilla feels obligated to tell me each time it fails. I think I need to add a webserver to my machine, running on localhost, and have it serve up some type of blocker indicator gif, html, or jpeg each time it gets a request.
Of course, if Mr. Gates would open the calendar portion of Exchange a little bit, other programs could access the calendar, maybe even between organizations. But that would require some kind of security. Maybe an Open-source calendar system would be better anyway. If Soccer Mom can't use Frontpage already, she shouldn't be allowed to make web pages at all. And do you really want little Tommy's appointment schedule on the Internet?? Um....can you say VPN and X-Windows/telnet?? I don't even understand this. I have downloaded books to my Palm, and I already use my computer to read Infoworld, Slashdot, et. al.
Come on Bill
You have to be trusted by the people you lie to -- Pink Floyd
I am now spending MORE on music than before. Why?? Here is why (Moby
- MusicMatch appears to pay royalties for music played. I don't know this for sure, and don't really care, but they did mention that they cannot play the same artist more than X times an hour.
- I'm buying more CDs. When I hear a tune I like, I can click and put the CD on my wish list. I start to notice trends around artists, and go out and buy their CDs. Before, I would only buy CDs I had heard, and since I don't listen to radio much, my purchasing has gone way down in the 10 years.
So...Moby and all the other non-techies that don't 'get it', pay attention to why you are really losing fans.You have to be trusted by the people you lie to
Remember the old puzzle?? How many grooves on a record?? Two .. one on each side.
This is an issue where size shouldn't matter. Record grooves started on the outside, so the dumb needle had to know what size the record was in order to be placed down. CDs start the 'groove' in the center. So other than having the same, standard sized hole in the middle, there is nothing that prevents a CD player from playing a 2", 4", or 12' CD as long as it can accomodate the physical CD.
The only thing that may prevent CDs from not even having a hole at all are the speed and size of the data in the inner rings v/s the outer and having to hold and spin the CD. Just start at the center and work the laser out until it finds something it can read.
I thought the fight scene was just silly, to coin a Monty Python phrase. And now that you mention it, it would have been more appreciated if it Yoda fought in a slow, deliberate mode, more like the character in 'Remo Williams' or dodging bullets in 'The Matrix'. Just step out of the way and let the assailant expend all of their energy.
Just a thought. I laughed during the whole thing and thought it was very stupid. The fight scene that is, not the movie. Ok, the bit on the assembly line was stupid also. And Jar Jar. But that was it. Ok, the fact that the movie was just oozing 'make a video game out of me' was also stupid. Oh yea, and Amadalia losing half her clothes, although much appreciated, was also stupid.
OK, the whole movie was stupid. But I always liked mindless entertainment....
I'm 5'9" (1.7 m) and 225lbs (100Kg). I've also been touch typing for about 25 years. Now....everyone play along with this and find out where your neutral position is. I'll bet it's probably not the same as mine.
... my arms more like a V than parallel. I measured it, and the most comfortable position is my fingertips about 4 inches (10cm) apart.
First off, let's assume that the vertical position of your hands is actually better.
Place your hands like the one's in the picture of the Safetype keyboard. Now, when I do this, I feel a pressure in my sholders suggesting that my hands should be closer together
Now, look at your hands and wiggle your fingers as if you were typing. When I do this, my fingers are curled and move towards and away from me, not on the side like the Safetype keyboard. Except for my thumb, it moves up and down. Even neater.
So, my 10 minute research suggests that they take their keyboard and rotate it away from the body, and allow the user to control the distance between the two halves. Also, move the space bar, and maybe a few other keys like caps and esc to the top for the thumbs. THAT would be more ergonomic than the contraption they have.
The only drawback I can see, and the Safetype keyboard would have the same problem, is that my hands rest on the outside edges. I would guess that this would be very irritating after awhile.
Can I have my government grant now????
Some thoughts about previous post topics and how they relate to my own personal experiences:
- Backups of dissimular Unix flavors would not be a problem, because we use Veritas Datacenter and a single 30 cartridge 2-headed tape jukebox.
- Our developers hardly understand UNIX, and the sysadmins maintain the scripts in production. So bouncing between linux and solaris is no real big deal for them
- General admin isn't too much of a problem. NIS+, NFS and Samba make sharing directories and administering users fairly easy. Central print spoolers using lpd and Samba, plus imaged builds make maintenance fairly simple.
- Security is the biggest issue. I can skip most patches for Sun and Linux unless there is a specific problem, but we have to watch and install the security ones. Sun packages and RPMs are easy to install remotely, but sometimes the fix is to chmod some file, so we either write a script or visit each machine. SSH makes this bearable.
So, my take on your question is that it will depend on the quality of the system admins on how much work it will be.I do use 'i' a lot for very short loops. Knowing the rules and the impact of breaking them is perhaps the best knowledge of all.
- Break down what is being developed into very small components, and make them as independant of everything else as possible.
- Develop so that relationships between components can be easily understand to lessen the impacts of any change. (One hint to a student, can he envision a cube in his head and rotate it or unfold it?? If not, maybe programming isn't for him.)
- Write reasonably good, self documenting, maintainable code that is consistent. Teach that it might be easier to use 'i' as a variable in a short loop, but loop-idx or object_idx make more sense.
- Which leads into the next one, LEARN TO TYPE DAMMIT. Programmers spend their career at a keyboard, they should learn to use it efficiently. That means both hands and all the fingers. Throw in the feet if you can.
- Write self checking code that handles errors in a concise, yet informative node. I hate 'segment fault' type messages. Trap the damn things and let someone have a general idea where it occured and what dataset was being worked on if possible.
There are probably a thousand some concepts that should be taught, but these are a few off the top of my bald head that shine through.And now I have three vendors to call for support when the damn thing doesn't work ...
Of course, we can talk later about the fact I'll have to reboot 10,000 times if I choose M$.....
A little something called remote maintenance. Opps, forgot. Remote maintenance that is possible on a dial-up modem. Opps again. Please change that to the ability to rebuild, boot, change eeprom settings, power off and on, remotely using a 9600baud modem if I had to.
Faster is not always better. As a system admin with both NT and Unix systems, my goal is availability and managability first, savings second. Let's face it, I could rebuild a Sun Solaris box remotely with a Palm, a VT-100 emulator, and a cell modem from just about anywhere in the country if I had to.
Why is that important? I can only speak for my company, but being able to do the Sun maintenance from the comfort of our homes/desks is very important to me and my staff. We have equipment in remote locations (over 100 miles away from the office), and not having to drive over there to rebuild a server or install patches saves $100 in expenses, plus takes only 20 minutes instead of all day.
This is not a M$ bashing bit either. If we were using Linux on Intel we would have the same issues. What I need Intel to do is very simple, restore a serial console to the platform. Let me have access to the BIOS from the command line and during startup. Let me power on/power off equipment from the console port too.
Yes...I can run a cardpunch machine too!!!
But, to keep perspective, I used to use a keypunch machine, and the less than ergo chairs used to kill my back when I was a young man resulting in numerous trips to my doctor for manipulation and drugs. Ah....the good old days....