According to other reports on this, it's being done purely on cost grounds. They spend $750k doing localization, they can only expect about $500k back because so many users just pirate it, and that's not going to change any time soon.
Amen to that. May also be worth looking at Netware 6 - clientless access for Windows, Mac and Unix (also iirc available as a bolt-on for NW5.1).
Another consideration: if you ditch Netware, what happens to your NDS tree? afaik a linux server can join a tree, but it still has some reliance on Netware - it may a while before NDS can be run entirely from non-Netware servers. If you're ditching NDS too, it could be a massive cost (and potential distruption) while you move to another directory.
The place I've worked at for the last 9 months uses GroupWise, and I'm very impressed with it. Been testing GroupWise 6 recently and from an admin's point of view, it's excellent - much better controls on message/mailbox sizing, more encryption stuff (both in transport and for users to encrypt/sign messages), and easier to backup.
The problem? The client still really sucks. It does things in a nice reliable way most of the time, but the UI and general slickness of the thing is years behind Outlook. They've apparently added loads of new stuff for this release, but none of it actually _looks_ like they've done any work on it, and this is the area that Novell really need to sort out. It's no good just making excellent products, they have to be noticed.
PHBs like to _see_ improvements, and when you're planning an upgrade for 250 users (a not insignificant amount of money), it would be nice for the users to actually notice. Make things look better, nicer, different and suddenly it's money well spent from their point of view.
>>>
The tzero is being readied for production, and is expected to begin deliveries in 2002. The exact timing is not yet determined. It will be priced between Porsche and Ferrari.
*cough* excuse me?
"between Porsche and Ferrari" is going to mean 70,000ukp (at least). Now who in their right minds is going to spend 70k on something that, frankly, looks like a dodgy home-made kitcar and has a 100 mile range on "careful" use?
Any of the current crop of UK bike-engined sportscars will beat the tzero in a straight line and would lap several seconds quicker around a track. And they cost a fraction of what the tzero will.
Kudos to them for making an electric car with a bit of pace, but it's not much good if you can't even get to the track on one charge.. if they actually think they can sell any at those prices, they won't be in business long.
Human Traffic. Drugs, music, the reality of working shit jobs, it's all there. And if you're american, a taste of what Wales is actually like these days..
Re:We need to be more like the Europeans
on
"Traffic"
·
· Score: 1
And it's not even allowed to be prescribed - wheras heroin and other Class A drugs are.
Read the Register article - Microsoft oppose the plans because it would make life extremely difficult for their OEM partners. At the moment, they tend to use drive images to prepare PCs which saves a huge amount of time. This would get completely screwed over if such a scheme was implemented. As well as the OS, all of those pre-installed bits of software would have to be done on a per-PC basis. Best case - adding a few hours on to the build time. Multiplied by how many machines Dell, Compaq, HP, et al churn out and it's going to cost them a lot of money.
Microsoft makes a huge amount from the pre-loaded software that comes with PCs, anything that puts hurdles in the way isn't going to go in their favour. If that copy of Works or Office takes 15 minutes extra to install, the OEM might drop it from their bundle.
Like it or not, Microsoft has an enormous share of the desktop market and if this scheme doesn't meet their approval, it's completely f**ked.
If there's a divide between compliant and non-compliant HD manufacturers, the OEMs will flock to the non-compliant ones. Motherboards and drive controllers will have to keep working with non-compliant drives for backwards compatibility. Any manufacturer who switches to all-compliant drives would find themselves out of business pretty rapidly. Any who carry both would find themselves selling very few of the compliant ones - the levy on them and other issues would make them more expensive than non-compliant ones. If they don't sell, they'll drop them.
I can't actually see this happening, no matter how hard the RIAA, MPAA, etc push for it. In this domain, the manufacturers rule, and as they already run to incredibly tight margins they'll never go for it.
I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep over this braindead "idea".
That doesn't cut it for the home users though. The whole wizard-driven nature of Windows (like it or loathe it - I tend to the latter) means that most of them can set up stuff without needing more knowledgable people about. Installing programs is usually a couple of clicks, and there's an icon in the start menu so they can find it and run it. Plug in a USB scanner/webcam/whatever, pop in the CD and 20 seconds later it's set up.
At the moment linux just can't compete with that - not till someone puts together a "linux for dummies" distro anyway:)
If the so-called "MS Tax" ends up being a much larger percentage of the total cost of the computer, I think the logical response from Microsoft would be to lower their prices; not to keep charging an amount people won't pay until they die.
This is already happening - Microsoft's "no media, no transferrable licences" policy, that does little but piss off customers, is one that exists to save the OEMs money.
They get a simple choice: pay full-price for a regular licence + CD pack, or go down the "no media" route and get a hefty discount. The larger companies (Compaq, Dell, et al) go for it because it's that bit more profit on each sale; the smaller companies are then pressured into doing the same to keep their prices keen. As PCs get cheaper, saving $50 or so per machine is a lot - and most customers won't notice they don't have a proper Windows CD until it's too late.
Many of the recorders (especially Sony) timestamp, Sharp ones can do auto-trackmarks every 5 minutes or so.
The hassle is in the MD->PC bit and having to carry about a separate mic (still haven't seen a recorder with one built-in). Shame, because as a portable recording medium, MD is superb.
You don't see many pre-recorded MDs, but no-one buys them anyway (when a blank MD is less than a pound, why not just buy the CD and record it?).
Quite. Pre-rec MD for 14ukp, pre-rec CD for 11ukp, MD blank for 1ukp and it doesn't add up:) Now if they were pitched at the same kind of price as tapes (albums for 7-8ukp) they'd do a lot better.
I still see pre-recs quite a bit in the larger music stores, but I've never seen anyone buy one (or even anyone else looking at the display..)
You know, that's what endears me to Linux; the way it's users are _driven_ to make new uses out of it.
Yup, so much so that the win2k version of the guide was done first. But hey, this is slashdot, that doesn't matter does it?:-)
Re:What about MiniDisc as a floppy?
on
Is MiniDisc Dead?
·
· Score: 1
They're not made in any sort of volume any more, but have found a niche market in small 4-track recorders.
What killed them for general use was the cost and speed. The MO-using MiniDisc didn't stand a chance against the cheap and quick iomega Zip drives. MD Data media wasn't cheap then and it still isn't now - although the tech is the same and the data drives would usually play audio MDs, the MD Data discs were different - and still sell for 6-7ukp (10-11usd) each.
In the US, maybe - there seems to be a big gap between the techies (who buy computer CD-R drives and MP3 players) and everyone else (who stick with tape and the odd bought CD). Not a lot in between, so the average music fan has to go one way or the other.
In the UK, I'm constantly surprised by "normal" non-tech people who mention that they use MD. It's a great format for home recording (especially from CD, or for archiving old vinyls) and it's significantly easier to use than consumer CD-R, and even tape in many respects. Put in a MD, hit "sync rec", play the CD.
More significantly, this stuff is fairly cheap over here even in the high-street shops. Portable recorders (all you need to get started) are sold from 99ukp up, and many mini-systems over 200ukp come with a MD deck built-in. Cool products like the MXD-D3 help a lot too - it's a CD/MD deck that's well priced and can record at 4x.
What made me switch properly though was when I came to replace my car stereo. I didn't like the thought of constantly burning CDs to use in the car (or risking my bought ones in there, both from a scratching and theft point of view), hate tape and couldn't afford an empeg. So I bought a Sony MDX-C6500R and it's fantistic. Cost 160ukp (about 10 more than the CD equivalent), and I just keep a dozen or so recordings in my the door pocket, no hassle.
Maybe it's a 'net access thing (we're only just getting decent unmetered services here) so less music is downloaded and people copy from their friends instead. But I have my entire CD collection (over 200 albums) ripped to MP3 (plus about 20gig downloaded), I own a computer CD-R drive and I still found MD the best solution. Nothing else comes close to it's portability, durability and general convenience.
Data was always a non-starter - Zip/LS120 were always cheaper and quicker and a 650mb format wouldn't stand a chance against CDR/W. I just think of it as a music format, and it's likely it'll stay like that.
Maybe it'll die in the US, but despite the slow start it's thriving everywhere else. I can even buy blanks in my small local supermarket!
Slashdot Mirror
According to other reports on this, it's being done purely on cost grounds. They spend $750k doing localization, they can only expect about $500k back because so many users just pirate it, and that's not going to change any time soon.
Amen to that. May also be worth looking at Netware 6 - clientless access for Windows, Mac and Unix (also iirc available as a bolt-on for NW5.1).
Another consideration: if you ditch Netware, what happens to your NDS tree? afaik a linux server can join a tree, but it still has some reliance on Netware - it may a while before NDS can be run entirely from non-Netware servers. If you're ditching NDS too, it could be a massive cost (and potential distruption) while you move to another directory.
Haven't seen anything to that effect on the Novell forums, although the bundled MS Client for Netware has always been pretty poor.
The proper Novell Client for XP is available from http://download.novell.com/sdMain.jsp
Most motherboards will suspend or power down if the CPU fan has died, and many will not boot unless there's a fan connected to that header.
Windows 2000 has a set of security policies included that can quickly set things up to your desired security level. Basically the same thing.
Sophos is both:
- good
- runs on linux (and plenty of other platforms)
http://www.sophos.com/
The place I've worked at for the last 9 months uses GroupWise, and I'm very impressed with it. Been testing GroupWise 6 recently and from an admin's point of view, it's excellent - much better controls on message/mailbox sizing, more encryption stuff (both in transport and for users to encrypt/sign messages), and easier to backup.
The problem? The client still really sucks. It does things in a nice reliable way most of the time, but the UI and general slickness of the thing is years behind Outlook. They've apparently added loads of new stuff for this release, but none of it actually _looks_ like they've done any work on it, and this is the area that Novell really need to sort out. It's no good just making excellent products, they have to be noticed.
PHBs like to _see_ improvements, and when you're planning an upgrade for 250 users (a not insignificant amount of money), it would be nice for the users to actually notice. Make things look better, nicer, different and suddenly it's money well spent from their point of view.
The Dell Inspiron 8000s have had s-video outs for a while, along with S/PDIF (digital) sound.
Like, say, Charlie's Angels. Much as it's cool to see Handspring Visors and Sony Vaios, did they have to focus on the company logos for _that_ long?
Toshiba Satellite 2800-500 has it, and it's an option on recent Dell Inspiron 8000s. Both available now.
What's more of a joke is their pricing plan:
>>>
The tzero is being readied for production, and is expected to begin deliveries in 2002. The exact timing is not yet determined. It will be priced between Porsche and Ferrari.
*cough* excuse me?
"between Porsche and Ferrari" is going to mean 70,000ukp (at least). Now who in their right minds is going to spend 70k on something that, frankly, looks like a dodgy home-made kitcar and has a 100 mile range on "careful" use?
Any of the current crop of UK bike-engined sportscars will beat the tzero in a straight line and would lap several seconds quicker around a track. And they cost a fraction of what the tzero will.
Kudos to them for making an electric car with a bit of pace, but it's not much good if you can't even get to the track on one charge.. if they actually think they can sell any at those prices, they won't be in business long.
here.
PocketPC version here.
In the UK at least, MS sell student licences at a fraction of the real value. Win98 and Win2k (licenced for dual boot) is about 50 pounds.
Human Traffic. Drugs, music, the reality of working shit jobs, it's all there. And if you're american, a taste of what Wales is actually like these days..
And it's not even allowed to be prescribed - wheras heroin and other Class A drugs are.
Funny, everyone else has been using Xircom Realport cards for ages, and many of the corporate-aimed laptops nowadays have a 10/100baseT port built in.
Sorry, not a reason to buy a Powerbook at all...
Me too - 6GB would be nice, but what's the point if you can only listen for 3 hours before the batteries run flat?
I'd be really worried about carrying a HD with me - even laptop HDs aren't designed to take a lot of shock when they're actually operating.
Looks like yet another overpriced, impractical toy that'll sell just because it plays MP3 and gets mentioned on slashdot a lot. Oh well..
Read the Register article - Microsoft oppose the plans because it would make life extremely difficult for their OEM partners. At the moment, they tend to use drive images to prepare PCs which saves a huge amount of time. This would get completely screwed over if such a scheme was implemented. As well as the OS, all of those pre-installed bits of software would have to be done on a per-PC basis. Best case - adding a few hours on to the build time. Multiplied by how many machines Dell, Compaq, HP, et al churn out and it's going to cost them a lot of money.
Microsoft makes a huge amount from the pre-loaded software that comes with PCs, anything that puts hurdles in the way isn't going to go in their favour. If that copy of Works or Office takes 15 minutes extra to install, the OEM might drop it from their bundle.
Like it or not, Microsoft has an enormous share of the desktop market and if this scheme doesn't meet their approval, it's completely f**ked.
If there's a divide between compliant and non-compliant HD manufacturers, the OEMs will flock to the non-compliant ones. Motherboards and drive controllers will have to keep working with non-compliant drives for backwards compatibility. Any manufacturer who switches to all-compliant drives would find themselves out of business pretty rapidly. Any who carry both would find themselves selling very few of the compliant ones - the levy on them and other issues would make them more expensive than non-compliant ones. If they don't sell, they'll drop them.
I can't actually see this happening, no matter how hard the RIAA, MPAA, etc push for it. In this domain, the manufacturers rule, and as they already run to incredibly tight margins they'll never go for it.
I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep over this braindead "idea".
That doesn't cut it for the home users though. The whole wizard-driven nature of Windows (like it or loathe it - I tend to the latter) means that most of them can set up stuff without needing more knowledgable people about. Installing programs is usually a couple of clicks, and there's an icon in the start menu so they can find it and run it. Plug in a USB scanner/webcam/whatever, pop in the CD and 20 seconds later it's set up.
At the moment linux just can't compete with that - not till someone puts together a "linux for dummies" distro anyway :)
This is already happening - Microsoft's "no media, no transferrable licences" policy, that does little but piss off customers, is one that exists to save the OEMs money.
They get a simple choice: pay full-price for a regular licence + CD pack, or go down the "no media" route and get a hefty discount. The larger companies (Compaq, Dell, et al) go for it because it's that bit more profit on each sale; the smaller companies are then pressured into doing the same to keep their prices keen. As PCs get cheaper, saving $50 or so per machine is a lot - and most customers won't notice they don't have a proper Windows CD until it's too late.
Many of the recorders (especially Sony) timestamp, Sharp ones can do auto-trackmarks every 5 minutes or so.
The hassle is in the MD->PC bit and having to carry about a separate mic (still haven't seen a recorder with one built-in). Shame, because as a portable recording medium, MD is superb.
Quite. Pre-rec MD for 14ukp, pre-rec CD for 11ukp, MD blank for 1ukp and it doesn't add up :) Now if they were pitched at the same kind of price as tapes (albums for 7-8ukp) they'd do a lot better.
I still see pre-recs quite a bit in the larger music stores, but I've never seen anyone buy one (or even anyone else looking at the display..)
Yup, so much so that the win2k version of the guide was done first. But hey, this is slashdot, that doesn't matter does it? :-)
They're not made in any sort of volume any more, but have found a niche market in small 4-track recorders.
What killed them for general use was the cost and speed. The MO-using MiniDisc didn't stand a chance against the cheap and quick iomega Zip drives. MD Data media wasn't cheap then and it still isn't now - although the tech is the same and the data drives would usually play audio MDs, the MD Data discs were different - and still sell for 6-7ukp (10-11usd) each.
In the US, maybe - there seems to be a big gap between the techies (who buy computer CD-R drives and MP3 players) and everyone else (who stick with tape and the odd bought CD). Not a lot in between, so the average music fan has to go one way or the other.
In the UK, I'm constantly surprised by "normal" non-tech people who mention that they use MD. It's a great format for home recording (especially from CD, or for archiving old vinyls) and it's significantly easier to use than consumer CD-R, and even tape in many respects. Put in a MD, hit "sync rec", play the CD.
More significantly, this stuff is fairly cheap over here even in the high-street shops. Portable recorders (all you need to get started) are sold from 99ukp up, and many mini-systems over 200ukp come with a MD deck built-in. Cool products like the MXD-D3 help a lot too - it's a CD/MD deck that's well priced and can record at 4x.
What made me switch properly though was when I came to replace my car stereo. I didn't like the thought of constantly burning CDs to use in the car (or risking my bought ones in there, both from a scratching and theft point of view), hate tape and couldn't afford an empeg. So I bought a Sony MDX-C6500R and it's fantistic. Cost 160ukp (about 10 more than the CD equivalent), and I just keep a dozen or so recordings in my the door pocket, no hassle.
Maybe it's a 'net access thing (we're only just getting decent unmetered services here) so less music is downloaded and people copy from their friends instead. But I have my entire CD collection (over 200 albums) ripped to MP3 (plus about 20gig downloaded), I own a computer CD-R drive and I still found MD the best solution. Nothing else comes close to it's portability, durability and general convenience.
Data was always a non-starter - Zip/LS120 were always cheaper and quicker and a 650mb format wouldn't stand a chance against CDR/W. I just think of it as a music format, and it's likely it'll stay like that.
Maybe it'll die in the US, but despite the slow start it's thriving everywhere else. I can even buy blanks in my small local supermarket!