Have you considered another approach? Software such as Symantec Enterprise Vault (http://www.veritas.com/Products/www?c=product&ref Id=322) specialises in archiving email from exchange. It removes old or rarely used emails from Exchange and archives them to some NAS or other backup locations. In place of the messages it leaves shortcuts. With the help of a client a plug-in, the end user is none-the-wiser and thinks that all their emails are in their mailbox. You can access archived messages just as you would normal ones, but with a slightly longer delay.
Sure, this is probably a shameless plug, and yes, I did work on this software back in the days before Veritas ate KVS Ltd and Veritas merged with Symantec merged. However, there are other similar products about and I think this is an approach worth considering, be it with this particular product or not.
Most companies have users with bloated mailboxes and we found that many of our clients *couldn't* delete old messages for legal reasons. Normally, users are forced to archive messages to.PST files, but then you're left with the problem of archiving those too, plus they aren't terribly accessible. At least with something like Enterprise Vault you can make it appear that all the messages are still on the server and manage the archiving at the server directly, giving you control over how much actual running capacity the mailboxes require.
I agree with you that there is a very blurry legal distinction between watching a downloaded recording as opposed to watching your own recording. What I do see, however, is the RIAA's problem with those that distribute the recordings in the first place (And the line between those responsible for uploading and those that download is made even blurrier with BitTorrent). It is not our right to distribute such content (with or without ads), it is that of the licensed broadcaster.
I believe it is the TV stations that are missing out here and not the content creators. The TV stations have paid to air the shows and get advertisment revenue partly based on viewer figures. Surely it could be better for everyone if instead of poisoning torrents, that TV stations released their shows over the web with their ads. Those that don't want to watch the ads will of course find a way, but the same stands with regular TV.
Advertisers pay to have their adverts shown and expect that there is no guarantee that they will be watched. They expect a certain percent of viewers (majority) will watch their ads and pay accordingly. Assuming there is no painfully easy way for the average Joe downloader to strip ads from downloaded content then it is safe to assume that a certain percent of Internet viewers (majority?) will watch these ads - and again, the advertisers can pay accordingly.
Undoubtedly the percentage of Internet viewers that watch the ads will be much lower than with regular TV. As ad-stripping tools will come in the form of free software download versus buying a PVR. However, the advertisers can pay according to this (IE: less). What's more, I believe both QuickTime and WMV have the capability to show live content. So the ads could have clickable hyperlinks - an attractive prospect for advertisers, I'm sure. (No popups please!!)
I can't say how this will end up but I'm willing to bet that downloading shows/movies over p2p networks is here to stay and will be legal in one form or another. The question is who's willing to make the first move and offer a legal system, like has been finally done with music.
Marking up Hilton as <motel> or <celebrity> is all very well. This is what XML is for.
One of the key points behind the semantic web is to define meanings to your meta tags. My system has a <partnumber> tag and so does yours, but that doesn't
mean they're the same. I can publish my definition of <partnumber> so that other apps can know how to interpret my partnumbers. Complex definitions can be provided
in computer-readable format, which can then be looked up, referenced, shared etc. with other systems.
Take Dublin Core, for example. A standard set of tags to describe document attributes, such as title and author. Why should I
write my own <author> tag when I can simply pull-in part of Dublin Core's vocabulary. Not only does that save me (the developer) time, but it means any app that
knows about Dublin Core will know what I mean when I say "author". Or, if an app doesn't know about a particular term it can simply go look it up.
Sharing vocabularies is time-saving, but also helps computers process information automatically. Mr Berners-Lee and some colleagues had a good article published in Scientific American a while ago which explains
their vision of intelligent software agents doing the sorts of things computers should be doing with the information the web has to offer. Such as automatically adjusting your
schedule if your gym's online timetable has changed and your squash game needs to be moved. OK, that's a very basic example, but the point is that although the information
needed to do this sort of stuff is already on the web, it is currently only readable by humans.
If anyone is interested in learning more about this stuff then have a look at the Resource Description Framework (RDF) which is a foundation technology of the Semantic Web (There's more to it than HTML META tags!). There's a lot of activity involving RDF-based technologies such as OWL, FOAF and the popular RSS.
"Russ...is proposing fines for those whose computers allow the propagation of viruses, worms, etc., knowingly or unknowingly... Russ is taking a poll on his site."
No doubt he'll change his mind when his site gets assimilated by the next big worm.
Imagine a day where engineers build cool robots, upload the generic learn-to-do-stuff-with-your limbs program, leave it for a week or so to train up and get optimum calibration, then have it copy it's program onto subsequent batches.
I picture a robot aerobics class.. heh. But if anybody asks, I picture a robot boot camp.
My dad's PC had an unfortunate accident that could have easily sent the house up in flames if it weren't for the people there at the time.
His system was an Athlon 1.4 with SCSI, a Radeon, lots of RAM and other suitably expensive stuff (at the time), excepting the NIC. The NIC was a generic cheapo and for some unknown reason it decided to spontaneously burst into flames.
If it wasn't for the various case fans blowing the smoke out into the house, we wouldn't have known. Luckily we got to it before the rest of the PC (and potentially the house) followed suit. The motherboard and the NIC were the only things that needed replacing, but we took the hint and replaced all our cheapo NICs with hopefully less flammable 3Coms.
It was a lucky escape and it certainly made us think twice about leaving our boxen running 24/7, especially unattended. Flammability isn't something I usually take into consideration when buying components. Suffice to say, no more Happy Value components for me.
Oh, and if anyone's wondering; The smell of a burning PC is very nasty. Incredibly, the OS was still alive before I cut the power. I'm also persuaded that if we had bought a cheapo case with poor ventilation, the component death toll would have been much higher. Heh.. maybe those watercooling monkeys can set up an internal sprinkler system or something. Hahah.
Well everyone else is suggesting stuff so I figure I will too. I'm looking to buy a PC in the UK sometime soon and for the past couple of months I've kept my eye on the prices. Here's my contribution:
Dabs.com Tried and trusted. I've bought plenty of stuff from these guys in the past with 100% satisfaction. Their site is a little annoying but they have the widest selection of stock by far. Their prices are very good if not the best. Product information (when available) is not terribly informative so you should know what you're looking for before you arrive.
Aria.co.uk Only bought a couple of things from these people and had no problems. Less stock than dabs but their prices are good. Specifically, they've got the best prices on Athlon XPs (1800 - 2100). And their CPU coolers & PSUs are cheap too. Product info on this site is poor and the design isn't much better.
Overclockers.co.uk Bought one thing from here and again no problems. Not a great deal of stock but the stuff they do have is top notch (in most cases). Their prices are slightly off-par, however they've currently got the best price on some CDRWs, HDDs and sound cards. Good product info available. These guys know their stuff. Their site design leaves to be desired.
Overclock.co.uk Not bought anything from here yet. Their product info is good but have pretty limited stock, mainly geared towards.. well.. you guessed it.. overclocking. Some of their prices are good while others are quite off-par. Their site is navigable but heavily image-laden.
Overclockingstore.co.uk Not bought anything from here yet. Their prices are reasonable but I've not found anything I wanted cheaper here. A large selection of overclocking stuff available and a pretty poor selection of regular components. Good looking site.
Tekheads.co.uk Bought stuff from here without any problems. Their site is good and prices vary. Mostly reasonable and sometimes better than dabs. They've currently got best prices on sound cards. Product info available is ok.
Kustom.co.uk Nasty site but they have a selection of stuff you'll have a hard time finding elsewhere. Mainly oriented towards cases and accessories. Bought a couple of things from these guys, again, without any problems.
Crucial.com/uk OK, this isn't a retail site, but Crucial sell their RAM online at price up to £30 cheaper than elsewhere. If you're looking for ECC Registered 512MB PC2100 DDR chips like me, then you'll appreciate the £119.69 price tag.
CCLComputers.co.uk Not bought anything from here yet but I certainly plan to. Simplistic site but very navigable. A good selection of stock and they've got the best prices on some CDRWs, AIW Radeons and the sweet sweet Iiyama Pro 452.
EBuyer.com Not bought anything from here either. Not too keen on their site but they're one of the few who offer Antec PSUs, with a reasonable price too.
Scan.co.uk Found this thanks to other posts in this discussion. Have to say I'm very impressed. A tasteful cut-to-the-chase design with decent product information. I was surprised to see just how wide a selection of stock they have. Not as large as dabs but they stock some decent stuff. I was surprised to find the dual Athlon Gigabyte mobo on there. Their selection of hard drives leaves to be desired but the rest is OK. Best prices on Enermax PSUs.
There are other sites out there too, such as Simply.co.uk, Action.com, Globaldirect.co.uk, Dcsplc.co.uk, Stuff-uk.net, Insight.com and Jungle.com but I've yet to be impressed. In particular, Jungle.com is probably worth avoiding. I've heard some horror stories.
So to wrap things up I'd have to say that if you can build your own PC it's definately worth doing so. The pre-built systems you can get may be cheaper and may have an amazing "2GHz P4, 60GB HDD DVD, Scanner etc.. etc..", but on the inside the components will be from Happy Shopper or Value Land and you'll get about as much performance out of your system as a frightened donkey.
However, if you're going to build your own PC you need to know exactly which components you need/want beforehand. These sites will have the stock you want but in most cases won't give you accurate or useful product information. It's a lengthy process but it's worth consulting newsgroups and/or online reviews. Storagereview.com, for example, has a leaderboard where you can get up to date on the decent and not-so-decent hard drives.
There are countless hardware review sites out there. It's worth searching for the product comparisons. Tomshardware.com and Anandtech.com are popular sites worth a look.
I'm approaching the final year of a CS course and I've had my fair share of handwritten programming exams. There's nothing that annoys me more than a question that asks for code on paper. Programming is simply not done on a line-by-line basis.
Who here thinks "OK, here's the algorithm I have to write" and writes say 200 lines one by one? Nobody! You start with chunks and progressively fill out the code by inserting lines above and below, editing things as you go along. Functions are not essays!
The questions I've faced so far have been reasonable and haven't required too many lines of code. (You know, the usual tree walking stuff). We're so familiar with the algorithms, we've already got a good idea of how many lines we'll need. But in some cases, the majority of my time is spent trying to figure out the code before I write it. Otherwise I'll end up having to insert lines here and there, make corrections and eventually need to rewrite the whole thing so the examiner can actually read it. All of which is costing me time.
These conditions detract from a test of actual programming and are a stumbling block for many. I have friends who have run out of time rewriting their draft code scribbles into a neat, examiner-readable form.
Secondly, in "real life" programming situations, you have a debugger! Type some code and test as you go along, progressively reaching your goal. So why these exams (the coding part) aren't systematically conducted on computers is beyond me. Unless I'm presented with a screen and a keyboard, it's not a programming question. If it's on paper, it's a how-good-are-you-at-writing-quickly,-neatly-and-gu essing-the-number-of-lines-for-your-code question.
The subject matter is ever evolving and universities have been good in keeping up, but in my opinion, the standard examination techniques are just not effective for coding questions. But for some reason, my lecturers, who are supposedly skilled in this field, just don't see the problem. "... in my day... " Bah!
"maybe we will all have on embeded in us and it wil contain our DNA table"
DNA embedded in our bodies?! What a novel idea.
But on topic, this development is cool. I look forward to having significant amounts of solid-state (well.. less moving parts) storage. It'll open the door for countless new computer applications. Digital voice recorders for example; ~90 days worth of audio in your pocket is very impressive.
How does this compare (density-wise) to holographic storage?
Slashdot Mirror
"View this page in Firefox tab"?
Have you considered another approach? Software such as Symantec Enterprise Vault (http://www.veritas.com/Products/www?c=product&ref Id=322) specialises in archiving email from exchange. It removes old or rarely used emails from Exchange and archives them to some NAS or other backup locations. In place of the messages it leaves shortcuts. With the help of a client a plug-in, the end user is none-the-wiser and thinks that all their emails are in their mailbox. You can access archived messages just as you would normal ones, but with a slightly longer delay.
.PST files, but then you're left with the problem of archiving those too, plus they aren't terribly accessible. At least with something like Enterprise Vault you can make it appear that all the messages are still on the server and manage the archiving at the server directly, giving you control over how much actual running capacity the mailboxes require.
Sure, this is probably a shameless plug, and yes, I did work on this software back in the days before Veritas ate KVS Ltd and Veritas merged with Symantec merged. However, there are other similar products about and I think this is an approach worth considering, be it with this particular product or not.
Most companies have users with bloated mailboxes and we found that many of our clients *couldn't* delete old messages for legal reasons. Normally, users are forced to archive messages to
I agree with you that there is a very blurry legal distinction between watching a downloaded recording as opposed to watching your own recording. What I do see, however, is the RIAA's problem with those that distribute the recordings in the first place (And the line between those responsible for uploading and those that download is made even blurrier with BitTorrent). It is not our right to distribute such content (with or without ads), it is that of the licensed broadcaster.
I believe it is the TV stations that are missing out here and not the content creators. The TV stations have paid to air the shows and get advertisment revenue partly based on viewer figures. Surely it could be better for everyone if instead of poisoning torrents, that TV stations released their shows over the web with their ads. Those that don't want to watch the ads will of course find a way, but the same stands with regular TV.
Advertisers pay to have their adverts shown and expect that there is no guarantee that they will be watched. They expect a certain percent of viewers (majority) will watch their ads and pay accordingly. Assuming there is no painfully easy way for the average Joe downloader to strip ads from downloaded content then it is safe to assume that a certain percent of Internet viewers (majority?) will watch these ads - and again, the advertisers can pay accordingly.
Undoubtedly the percentage of Internet viewers that watch the ads will be much lower than with regular TV. As ad-stripping tools will come in the form of free software download versus buying a PVR. However, the advertisers can pay according to this (IE: less). What's more, I believe both QuickTime and WMV have the capability to show live content. So the ads could have clickable hyperlinks - an attractive prospect for advertisers, I'm sure. (No popups please!!)
I can't say how this will end up but I'm willing to bet that downloading shows/movies over p2p networks is here to stay and will be legal in one form or another. The question is who's willing to make the first move and offer a legal system, like has been finally done with music.
-TheCrunch
Marking up Hilton as <motel> or <celebrity> is all very well. This is what XML is for.
One of the key points behind the semantic web is to define meanings to your meta tags. My system has a <partnumber> tag and so does yours, but that doesn't mean they're the same. I can publish my definition of <partnumber> so that other apps can know how to interpret my partnumbers. Complex definitions can be provided in computer-readable format, which can then be looked up, referenced, shared etc. with other systems.
Take Dublin Core, for example. A standard set of tags to describe document attributes, such as title and author. Why should I write my own <author> tag when I can simply pull-in part of Dublin Core's vocabulary. Not only does that save me (the developer) time, but it means any app that knows about Dublin Core will know what I mean when I say "author". Or, if an app doesn't know about a particular term it can simply go look it up.
Sharing vocabularies is time-saving, but also helps computers process information automatically. Mr Berners-Lee and some colleagues had a good article published in Scientific American a while ago which explains their vision of intelligent software agents doing the sorts of things computers should be doing with the information the web has to offer. Such as automatically adjusting your schedule if your gym's online timetable has changed and your squash game needs to be moved. OK, that's a very basic example, but the point is that although the information needed to do this sort of stuff is already on the web, it is currently only readable by humans.
If anyone is interested in learning more about this stuff then have a look at the Resource Description Framework (RDF) which is a foundation technology of the Semantic Web (There's more to it than HTML META tags!). There's a lot of activity involving RDF-based technologies such as OWL, FOAF and the popular RSS.
I've been doing this for ages. I tried Techno but my code usually generates Blues.
Well.. bluescreens.
sorry.
No. Because I don't have any. But if you do then I'd suggest tucking them away next to your Ab-Master 2000.
Ever since I started getting them on a regular basis, a career in software engineering seems a lot less appealing.
"Russ...is proposing fines for those whose computers allow the propagation of viruses, worms, etc., knowingly or unknowingly... Russ is taking a poll on his site."
No doubt he'll change his mind when his site gets assimilated by the next big worm.
"No.. no! You need to set your phone to not execute scripts from uncertified SMS! And remember to always disable ActiveX MMS components!"
Mmmmm future..
How long before we start getting automated commercial calls? The hardware cost to set something like that up is minimal and there are no call charges.
Or even worse, how long before someone writes a script to retrieve the numbers from the directory and call them all at random intervals?
"The trick, it seems, is in the tiny bubbles"
Amazing! That's also the trick behind Dr Pepper!!
Just how do they make them so damn small?
"...in an Apple Laptop, do I get an explosive fireball?"
No. You get an explosive iFireBall.
Now where have I seen that before? Hmmm.
Nothing ZoneAlarm and PGP can't solve.
Somebody needs a life.
I vote Nvidia. RenderMonkey sounds cool, but ATI have had banana problems in the past..
Imagine a day where engineers build cool robots, upload the generic learn-to-do-stuff-with-your limbs program, leave it for a week or so to train up and get optimum calibration, then have it copy it's program onto subsequent batches.
I picture a robot aerobics class.. heh. But if anybody asks, I picture a robot boot camp.
Don't be stupid. Everyone knows the moon is made of cheese. Cheese comes from cows and cows are sacred.
We shall fly to the moon for it must be worshipped! (And maybe consumed as a pleasant evening snack)
I would send our sysadmin a card but we're having network problems *yet again*. Which idiot is responsible for that stuff anyway?
My dad's PC had an unfortunate accident that could have easily sent the house up in flames if it weren't for the people there at the time.
His system was an Athlon 1.4 with SCSI, a Radeon, lots of RAM and other suitably expensive stuff (at the time), excepting the NIC. The NIC was a generic cheapo and for some unknown reason it decided to spontaneously burst into flames.
If it wasn't for the various case fans blowing the smoke out into the house, we wouldn't have known. Luckily we got to it before the rest of the PC (and potentially the house) followed suit. The motherboard and the NIC were the only things that needed replacing, but we took the hint and replaced all our cheapo NICs with hopefully less flammable 3Coms.
It was a lucky escape and it certainly made us think twice about leaving our boxen running 24/7, especially unattended. Flammability isn't something I usually take into consideration when buying components. Suffice to say, no more Happy Value components for me.
Oh, and if anyone's wondering; The smell of a burning PC is very nasty. Incredibly, the OS was still alive before I cut the power. I'm also persuaded that if we had bought a cheapo case with poor ventilation, the component death toll would have been much higher. Heh.. maybe those watercooling monkeys can set up an internal sprinkler system or something. Hahah.
Well everyone else is suggesting stuff so I figure I will too. I'm looking to buy a PC in the UK sometime soon and for the past couple of months I've kept my eye on the prices. Here's my contribution:
Dabs.com
Tried and trusted. I've bought plenty of stuff from these guys in the past with 100% satisfaction. Their site is a little annoying but they have the widest selection of stock by far. Their prices are very good if not the best. Product information (when available) is not terribly informative so you should know what you're looking for before you arrive.
Aria.co.uk
Only bought a couple of things from these people and had no problems. Less stock than dabs but their prices are good. Specifically, they've got the best prices on Athlon XPs (1800 - 2100). And their CPU coolers & PSUs are cheap too. Product info on this site is poor and the design isn't much better.
Overclockers.co.uk
Bought one thing from here and again no problems. Not a great deal of stock but the stuff they do have is top notch (in most cases). Their prices are slightly off-par, however they've currently got the best price on some CDRWs, HDDs and sound cards. Good product info available. These guys know their stuff. Their site design leaves to be desired.
Overclock.co.uk
Not bought anything from here yet. Their product info is good but have pretty limited stock, mainly geared towards.. well.. you guessed it.. overclocking. Some of their prices are good while others are quite off-par. Their site is navigable but heavily image-laden.
Overclockingstore.co.uk
Not bought anything from here yet. Their prices are reasonable but I've not found anything I wanted cheaper here. A large selection of overclocking stuff available and a pretty poor selection of regular components. Good looking site.
Tekheads.co.uk
Bought stuff from here without any problems. Their site is good and prices vary. Mostly reasonable and sometimes better than dabs. They've currently got best prices on sound cards. Product info available is ok.
Kustom.co.uk
Nasty site but they have a selection of stuff you'll have a hard time finding elsewhere. Mainly oriented towards cases and accessories. Bought a couple of things from these guys, again, without any problems.
Crucial.com/uk
OK, this isn't a retail site, but Crucial sell their RAM online at price up to £30 cheaper than elsewhere. If you're looking for ECC Registered 512MB PC2100 DDR chips like me, then you'll appreciate the £119.69 price tag.
CCLComputers.co.uk
Not bought anything from here yet but I certainly plan to. Simplistic site but very navigable. A good selection of stock and they've got the best prices on some CDRWs, AIW Radeons and the sweet sweet Iiyama Pro 452.
EBuyer.com
Not bought anything from here either. Not too keen on their site but they're one of the few who offer Antec PSUs, with a reasonable price too.
Scan.co.uk
Found this thanks to other posts in this discussion. Have to say I'm very impressed. A tasteful cut-to-the-chase design with decent product information. I was surprised to see just how wide a selection of stock they have. Not as large as dabs but they stock some decent stuff. I was surprised to find the dual Athlon Gigabyte mobo on there. Their selection of hard drives leaves to be desired but the rest is OK. Best prices on Enermax PSUs.
There are other sites out there too, such as Simply.co.uk, Action.com, Globaldirect.co.uk, Dcsplc.co.uk, Stuff-uk.net, Insight.com and Jungle.com but I've yet to be impressed. In particular, Jungle.com is probably worth avoiding. I've heard some horror stories.
So to wrap things up I'd have to say that if you can build your own PC it's definately worth doing so. The pre-built systems you can get may be cheaper and may have an amazing "2GHz P4, 60GB HDD DVD, Scanner etc.. etc..", but on the inside the components will be from Happy Shopper or Value Land and you'll get about as much performance out of your system as a frightened donkey.
However, if you're going to build your own PC you need to know exactly which components you need/want beforehand. These sites will have the stock you want but in most cases won't give you accurate or useful product information. It's a lengthy process but it's worth consulting newsgroups and/or online reviews. Storagereview.com, for example, has a leaderboard where you can get up to date on the decent and not-so-decent hard drives.
There are countless hardware review sites out there. It's worth searching for the product comparisons. Tomshardware.com and Anandtech.com are popular sites worth a look.
Good luck!
"Exactly the same as any teenager, just with more lubricants."
Teenagers are lubricated enough. Ever wonder where the grease in your McD's comes from?
"How long before "most Microsoft programs" have little bits of code added to shot them working on anything but offical microsoft windows.."
"most Microsoft programs" have enough trouble running on official Microsoft Windows as it is.
I'm approaching the final year of a CS course and I've had my fair share of handwritten programming exams. There's nothing that annoys me more than a question that asks for code on paper. Programming is simply not done on a line-by-line basis.
u essing-the-number-of-lines-for-your-code question.
Who here thinks "OK, here's the algorithm I have to write" and writes say 200 lines one by one? Nobody! You start with chunks and progressively fill out the code by inserting lines above and below, editing things as you go along. Functions are not essays!
The questions I've faced so far have been reasonable and haven't required too many lines of code. (You know, the usual tree walking stuff). We're so familiar with the algorithms, we've already got a good idea of how many lines we'll need. But in some cases, the majority of my time is spent trying to figure out the code before I write it. Otherwise I'll end up having to insert lines here and there, make corrections and eventually need to rewrite the whole thing so the examiner can actually read it. All of which is costing me time.
These conditions detract from a test of actual programming and are a stumbling block for many. I have friends who have run out of time rewriting their draft code scribbles into a neat, examiner-readable form.
Secondly, in "real life" programming situations, you have a debugger! Type some code and test as you go along, progressively reaching your goal. So why these exams (the coding part) aren't systematically conducted on computers is beyond me. Unless I'm presented with a screen and a keyboard, it's not a programming question. If it's on paper, it's a how-good-are-you-at-writing-quickly,-neatly-and-g
The subject matter is ever evolving and universities have been good in keeping up, but in my opinion, the standard examination techniques are just not effective for coding questions. But for some reason, my lecturers, who are supposedly skilled in this field, just don't see the problem. "... in my day... " Bah!
"maybe we will all have on embeded in us and it wil contain our DNA table"
DNA embedded in our bodies?! What a novel idea.
But on topic, this development is cool. I look forward to having significant amounts of solid-state (well.. less moving parts) storage. It'll open the door for countless new computer applications. Digital voice recorders for example; ~90 days worth of audio in your pocket is very impressive.
How does this compare (density-wise) to holographic storage?