i think of engineers like my dad, pocket protector and all *shudder*
i used to intern for the company my dad works for in their IT department. so i met all his friends and co-workers, very smart, very dry. however, i talk to these guys and found out really quickly that these people write more assembly code before i eat lunch than i did in college.
...and i HATED assembly...
at any rate, they could design, hack, tweak, configure, AND write linux device drivers with the best of em. maybe it's a generation thing, maybe it's just experience...
He's right, AOL's servers are AOL's servers. Why does everyone feel 'entitled' to do whatever the hell with those servers. Hell, if i put a box on the network and give terms to use it, I don't want those terms screwed with!
I use AIM b/c many of my non-techie friends do. I use Tik, the tcl/tk client that AOL made. Granted they don't support it anymore but it's been kept up by a group on sourceforge and best of all, it works! works great! in fact it almost never breaks! sure it's got some quirks but so does the windows client.
I'm not an AOL fan but I do see where they're comming from to an extent. They ARE being a bit childish, but the IM servers are still THEIR boxes on THEIR network. Not everyone wants to be open, sad fact, but true...
truth be told, I still like the irc way of doing things.
I think I'll start working on a project to create a device that will take me to google when I snap my fingers, to amazon when I pull out my credit card, and slashdot when I give it the finger.
I suppose a security measure would be to sheild the building/floor. In that case you'd have to get rid of windows (glass ones) too. I don't think anyone has created radio-proof glass...
Encryption can be broken, firewalls can be circumvented. Wireless just isn't a really secure media for transmission.
What about chipsets? There's really not a good chipset option for the AMD processors. Two big issues I've run into have been 1) AGP 4x problems with GeForce video 2) issues with Aureal based sound.
Granted, there are workarounds and I suppose these aren't earth shattering issues. Still, AMD/VIA hasn't made a chipset that can stand up to the functionality of the good 'ol 440BX. Hell, neither has intel for that matter... I've loved the AMDs I've installed, but they just don't always work as smoothlly as the intel based solutions. Back in the socket 7 days when you could run a 430HX or TX with an AMD in the socket it was great. Good price/preformace, reliable chipset. Via just isn't cutting it yet.
Maybe I'm ignorant, uneduacated, whatever... It's my understanding that UNIX is UNIX, Linux is Linux and OSX is MacOS 10, AKA the operating system that comes after MacOS 9.
I mean for crying out loud, did they base it on BSD just so they could say "Neener neener! we have UNIX too!!!" and do a little butt dance in the face of Linux users?
Ok, that was the cynical part of my comment. I know there were some very good reasons for using BSD for the base of the new MacOS. I'm glad they used it personally, it's a good move in the right direction. However, I still think Mac zealots are a little weird about the way they're now waving this we-use-unix-too-now banner all over the place.
The average Mac user won't give a rat's ass anyway.
Besides, what's all this crap about MiniDisc being dead? Walk into a recording studio sometime, it's an alive and well media. Most of the time it's a choice between MD and DAT. DAT has all the disadvantages we've come to know and love from magnetic tape, so MD is still alive and kicking.
Microsoft could most likely make it if they gave windows away to home users. OEMs and businesses would still be paying. Big companies would still be spending out the arse for things like microsoft select and licenses for NT/2000 server.
over all, It's not going to happen since they're making money on home users.
There are "computer folks" inside who handle the systems employees work on each day. Guess what they're running? ALL microsoft!! Servers, workstations, mail, everything is microsoft. Microsoft looks to have a big market b/c when those jokers buy a new server from Dell they're getting a new copy of NT or 2000 to go along with it.
Switch to internet services. We've got linux web servers, DNS, etc... except for the Sun mail servers, were basicly a linux shop. Most of us are even running linux on our desktops too. Now the guys over in IT think it's silly when we get a new desktop and instantly format and install linux on it. I have to wonder tho... they're such MS freaks, do they realize how much money we make off the linux boxes and how much they spend on the NT boxes?
NT is not bad or evil and it does not crash every 10 minutes just for the hell of it. There are good MS admins and bad MS admins. The problem is that most of the MS admins I know are lousy. It comes back to a mentality thing I guess. The ppl i know who are MS fanatics usually don't stop and think about things such as security and the importance of running only the nessacary services on a server. Why, well, it doesn't concern them b/c old uncle bill will take care of that. Folks who want to dig deeper move on to other things. Linux is one of those things, but not the only one.
Linux is not easy to learn comming from a windows background. It's easy to give up on b/c many times NT is "good enough" or gets the job done. So why bother with some kind of *nix? Why the hell not? Free scares ppl b/c they're afraid they'll be getting what they pay for. Well as in many things, more expensive is not always better.
Why do ppl keep comparing this movie to trainspotting? Sure it's in a similar setting and has some of the same elements, but it's much much much more like lock stock and two smoking barrels.
The true beauty of this movie came from the fact that there were several unrelated things going on at once which all get tied together by one little thing. Then the end just brings all the loose ends together perfectly!
It was very entertaining but it's not a movie for everyone. It's an engaging movie which brings you in and keeps you in for the whole ride. I don't know what katz is smoking, but two days later me and my buddies are STILL talking about it! I gotta get it when it comes out on DVD!
the biggest problem i find is that most folks have trouble using their thumbs to control the ball. i had some issues at first but once you get used to is you really don't want to use anything else.
I looked at the site data for my company's portal page. Roughly 89% of requests were from MSIE, netscape was around 10% with the balance being opera and a bunch of spambots looking for email addresses.
Then I checked out the operating system data, a full 98% being windows, a little over 1% was linux, the balance splits between unidentified UNIX, MacOS and there were about 40 requests from an OS/2 box.
It's not news that we live in a MS world. People just tend to use IE b/c it's already installed on their systems and they don't know they have options to begin with. Hell, the other day I talked to someone who didn't know there were other operating systems for PCs!
Regulating spam isn't so much about freedom on the internet as it is about freedom to be free of crap.
Now, I know we all get tons of snailmail everyday we didn't ask for. I get at least one credit card in the mail every couple of weeks or so and I just tear it up and throw it away. For some reason it's just more annoying to get that crap in my email! I don't know why really, it's just a mindset I guess.
Spammers are truly the scum of the earth, right down there with lawyers and people who key random cars in parking lots. Perhaps jail is a bit extreme but for crying out loud this madness has GOT to end!
How many used bookstores are there in the US? I'm sure other countries have their fair share as well. If that's a perfectly legal practice, then what's the problem with expanding that business out to the world on the internet?
oh sorry... that made some kind of logial sense...
hear hear!!
I saw the article and thought "Hey! a new OS, let's check it out..."
Then I was left wondering why an "OS" had another OS in the system requirements...
I hate to be one who bitches and moans, but for crying out loud guys!
Yes, hot plugging ps/2 connectors is dangerous but not 100% fatal. You can hot plug one 100 times but it only takes one time done just right to trash the ps/2 header.
switchboxes are typically made to keep this from happening beacuse they have constant current going through the circut. What you have to watch out for are the manual switchboxes that don't have their own power supplies. Those older manual types require you to take your box(es) down to switch KVM control. of course you can get away hot switching things, but unless the hardware is designed to be hotplugged, it's a good idea to not hotplug it.
I always thought that someone should write a book that goes something to the effect of "Linux for the recovering windows user"
When I first installed my liux system I was really excited beacuse I knew about all this cool stuff it could do. Much to my dismay, I found that all my NT training meant basicly squat once the installer was done. Here I was, Mr cool-guy-computer-nerd and I couldn't figure out how on earth to unzip a file much less untar one.
HOW-TOs helped, books helped, messageboards helped, but nothing was more helpful than being able to ask some stupid questions. Jumping into a new operating system can be rough. There are so many little things you have to pick up here and there. Sure, there was a point when i knew how to recompile my kernel but not how to change the time on the clock. There wasn't exactly a Clock-HOW-TO out there to consult.
I guess this could be an open source project of its own. What are the details you needed to know when you installed your first linux box?
Is it the game that makes the player smart or the smart players that are good at the games?
You could say that comptuers make people smart because you observe smart people working with computers. However, I talk to people everyday who aren't any smarter as a result of using the computer.
Children are the future. Youth are the future. The people who played baseball in the fields 30 years ago are our managers and writers and leaders and so on. Some of those same people who were playing baseball 30 years ago are NOT world leaders, but collecting trash instead.
Now, something CAN be learned from games, but I don't think that games are singlehandedly making our youth smarter/faster/better. There are plenty of other challenges in life, sure the digital world makes it fun and easy, but it's still just a computer.
Atlanta has THREE area codes and any calls made in those area codes require a 10 digit number. So if you want to call your buddy across the street he might have a different area code!
Not All ISPs are equal!
I tried the free ISP thing for a while, however due to my phone lines I could only connect at a top speed of 26.4K
exciting huh?
At any rate, the banner ads were so heavy that it killed my browsing speed. Granted it IS free so I shouldn't complain about that. The other thing I noticed was that it seemed like all the free services DNS was about four days behind the rest of the world. Maybe that's not the case, but perception is reality to some.
$19.99 a month is not too much to pay for decent service. Folks pay more than that, some pay less, but service is the key. MSN I personally wouldn't trust for all the obvious reasons. AT&T was just weird, mindspring/earthlink were great, and there are a ton of local and regional shops which do their thing just as good or better than their nationwide counterparts.
...and some that don't...
Now I work for an ISP, I get free service that all our customers pay $19.99 for. It's a nice perk, but I'll shell the 20 spot out rather than watching ad banners any day.
$6000? That seems kinda steep... I got my MCSE for around $790 I think. That was the 6 exams plus the exam cram books.
Hell, if I can pass all 6 with nothing more that some books and an NT workstation to dink with, anybody can.
Besides, I'm fairly sure that Linus is a smart guy.
Besides, good programmers are much more valuable in the long run than MCSEs. I only got mine because I was looking for a job fresh out of school and needed a piece of paper to prove I knew something. Funny thing is, after getting that cert, I work in a place where we have linux on our desktops. Strange world...
Slashdot Mirror
i think of engineers like my dad, pocket protector and all *shudder*
i used to intern for the company my dad works for in their IT department. so i met all his friends and co-workers, very smart, very dry. however, i talk to these guys and found out really quickly that these people write more assembly code before i eat lunch than i did in college.
...and i HATED assembly...
at any rate, they could design, hack, tweak, configure, AND write linux device drivers with the best of em. maybe it's a generation thing, maybe it's just experience...
He's right, AOL's servers are AOL's servers. Why does everyone feel 'entitled' to do whatever the hell with those servers. Hell, if i put a box on the network and give terms to use it, I don't want those terms screwed with!
I use AIM b/c many of my non-techie friends do. I use Tik, the tcl/tk client that AOL made. Granted they don't support it anymore but it's been kept up by a group on sourceforge and best of all, it works! works great! in fact it almost never breaks! sure it's got some quirks but so does the windows client.
I'm not an AOL fan but I do see where they're comming from to an extent. They ARE being a bit childish, but the IM servers are still THEIR boxes on THEIR network. Not everyone wants to be open, sad fact, but true...
truth be told, I still like the irc way of doing things.
I think I'll start working on a project to create a device that will take me to google when I snap my fingers, to amazon when I pull out my credit card, and slashdot when I give it the finger.
It would be interesting to find out and map where else folks have found (or founded) pockets of free bandwidth.
Look MA! I founded free internet!!
I suppose a security measure would be to sheild the building/floor. In that case you'd have to get rid of windows (glass ones) too. I don't think anyone has created radio-proof glass...
Encryption can be broken, firewalls can be circumvented. Wireless just isn't a really secure media for transmission.
What about chipsets? There's really not a good chipset option for the AMD processors. Two big issues I've run into have been 1) AGP 4x problems with GeForce video 2) issues with Aureal based sound.
Granted, there are workarounds and I suppose these aren't earth shattering issues. Still, AMD/VIA hasn't made a chipset that can stand up to the functionality of the good 'ol 440BX. Hell, neither has intel for that matter... I've loved the AMDs I've installed, but they just don't always work as smoothlly as the intel based solutions. Back in the socket 7 days when you could run a 430HX or TX with an AMD in the socket it was great. Good price/preformace, reliable chipset. Via just isn't cutting it yet.
OSX is UNIX
really...
Maybe I'm ignorant, uneduacated, whatever... It's my understanding that UNIX is UNIX, Linux is Linux and OSX is MacOS 10, AKA the operating system that comes after MacOS 9. I mean for crying out loud, did they base it on BSD just so they could say "Neener neener! we have UNIX too!!!" and do a little butt dance in the face of Linux users?
Ok, that was the cynical part of my comment. I know there were some very good reasons for using BSD for the base of the new MacOS. I'm glad they used it personally, it's a good move in the right direction. However, I still think Mac zealots are a little weird about the way they're now waving this we-use-unix-too-now banner all over the place.
The average Mac user won't give a rat's ass anyway.
let's look at this statement...
...the meaning of the sentence comes out to play!
;-)
Reminds me of the Levi jeans pages modeled on the "I kiss you!" guy that people thought were real as well.
If we remove a few words...
Reminds me of the Levi jeans pages that people thought were real as well.
The sentence should read:
Reminds me of the Levi jeans pages, modeled on the "I kiss you!" guy, that people thought were real as well.
I love commas
dude, you forgot NuVox...
Digital format been around longer than a CD?
Uh, MiniDisc?
Besides, what's all this crap about MiniDisc being dead? Walk into a recording studio sometime, it's an alive and well media. Most of the time it's a choice between MD and DAT. DAT has all the disadvantages we've come to know and love from magnetic tape, so MD is still alive and kicking.
Dangit, my sig is outdated...
Microsoft could most likely make it if they gave windows away to home users. OEMs and businesses would still be paying. Big companies would still be spending out the arse for things like microsoft select and licenses for NT/2000 server.
over all, It's not going to happen since they're making money on home users.
I work for an internet provider/ CLEC
There are "computer folks" inside who handle the systems employees work on each day. Guess what they're running? ALL microsoft!! Servers, workstations, mail, everything is microsoft. Microsoft looks to have a big market b/c when those jokers buy a new server from Dell they're getting a new copy of NT or 2000 to go along with it.
Switch to internet services. We've got linux web servers, DNS, etc... except for the Sun mail servers, were basicly a linux shop. Most of us are even running linux on our desktops too. Now the guys over in IT think it's silly when we get a new desktop and instantly format and install linux on it. I have to wonder tho... they're such MS freaks, do they realize how much money we make off the linux boxes and how much they spend on the NT boxes?
NT is not bad or evil and it does not crash every 10 minutes just for the hell of it. There are good MS admins and bad MS admins. The problem is that most of the MS admins I know are lousy. It comes back to a mentality thing I guess. The ppl i know who are MS fanatics usually don't stop and think about things such as security and the importance of running only the nessacary services on a server. Why, well, it doesn't concern them b/c old uncle bill will take care of that. Folks who want to dig deeper move on to other things. Linux is one of those things, but not the only one.
Linux is not easy to learn comming from a windows background. It's easy to give up on b/c many times NT is "good enough" or gets the job done. So why bother with some kind of *nix? Why the hell not? Free scares ppl b/c they're afraid they'll be getting what they pay for. Well as in many things, more expensive is not always better.
that's my rant...
Why do ppl keep comparing this movie to trainspotting? Sure it's in a similar setting and has some of the same elements, but it's much much much more like lock stock and two smoking barrels.
The true beauty of this movie came from the fact that there were several unrelated things going on at once which all get tied together by one little thing. Then the end just brings all the loose ends together perfectly!
It was very entertaining but it's not a movie for everyone. It's an engaging movie which brings you in and keeps you in for the whole ride. I don't know what katz is smoking, but two days later me and my buddies are STILL talking about it! I gotta get it when it comes out on DVD!
the logitech trackman marble is the stuff!
the biggest problem i find is that most folks have trouble using their thumbs to control the ball. i had some issues at first but once you get used to is you really don't want to use anything else.
besides, mice take up too much deskspace
I looked at the site data for my company's portal page. Roughly 89% of requests were from MSIE, netscape was around 10% with the balance being opera and a bunch of spambots looking for email addresses.
Then I checked out the operating system data, a full 98% being windows, a little over 1% was linux, the balance splits between unidentified UNIX, MacOS and there were about 40 requests from an OS/2 box.
It's not news that we live in a MS world. People just tend to use IE b/c it's already installed on their systems and they don't know they have options to begin with. Hell, the other day I talked to someone who didn't know there were other operating systems for PCs!
Regulating spam isn't so much about freedom on the internet as it is about freedom to be free of crap.
Now, I know we all get tons of snailmail everyday we didn't ask for. I get at least one credit card in the mail every couple of weeks or so and I just tear it up and throw it away. For some reason it's just more annoying to get that crap in my email! I don't know why really, it's just a mindset I guess.
Spammers are truly the scum of the earth, right down there with lawyers and people who key random cars in parking lots. Perhaps jail is a bit extreme but for crying out loud this madness has GOT to end!
Spam sucks
How many used bookstores are there in the US? I'm sure other countries have their fair share as well. If that's a perfectly legal practice, then what's the problem with expanding that business out to the world on the internet?
oh sorry... that made some kind of logial sense...
hear hear!!
I saw the article and thought "Hey! a new OS, let's check it out..."
Then I was left wondering why an "OS" had another OS in the system requirements...
I hate to be one who bitches and moans, but for crying out loud guys!
Yes, hot plugging ps/2 connectors is dangerous but not 100% fatal. You can hot plug one 100 times but it only takes one time done just right to trash the ps/2 header.
switchboxes are typically made to keep this from happening beacuse they have constant current going through the circut. What you have to watch out for are the manual switchboxes that don't have their own power supplies. Those older manual types require you to take your box(es) down to switch KVM control.
of course you can get away hot switching things, but unless the hardware is designed to be hotplugged, it's a good idea to not hotplug it.
I always thought that someone should write a book that goes something to the effect of "Linux for the recovering windows user"
When I first installed my liux system I was really excited beacuse I knew about all this cool stuff it could do. Much to my dismay, I found that all my NT training meant basicly squat once the installer was done. Here I was, Mr cool-guy-computer-nerd and I couldn't figure out how on earth to unzip a file much less untar one.
HOW-TOs helped, books helped, messageboards helped, but nothing was more helpful than being able to ask some stupid questions. Jumping into a new operating system can be rough. There are so many little things you have to pick up here and there. Sure, there was a point when i knew how to recompile my kernel but not how to change the time on the clock. There wasn't exactly a Clock-HOW-TO out there to consult.
I guess this could be an open source project of its own. What are the details you needed to know when you installed your first linux box?
Is it the game that makes the player smart or the smart players that are good at the games?
You could say that comptuers make people smart because you observe smart people working with computers. However, I talk to people everyday who aren't any smarter as a result of using the computer.
Children are the future. Youth are the future. The people who played baseball in the fields 30 years ago are our managers and writers and leaders and so on. Some of those same people who were playing baseball 30 years ago are NOT world leaders, but collecting trash instead.
Now, something CAN be learned from games, but I don't think that games are singlehandedly making our youth smarter/faster/better. There are plenty of other challenges in life, sure the digital world makes it fun and easy, but it's still just a computer.
Atlanta has THREE area codes and any calls made in those area codes require a 10 digit number. So if you want to call your buddy across the street he might have a different area code!
crazy world we live in huh?
Not All ISPs are equal!
I tried the free ISP thing for a while, however due to my phone lines I could only connect at a top speed of 26.4K
exciting huh?
At any rate, the banner ads were so heavy that it killed my browsing speed. Granted it IS free so I shouldn't complain about that. The other thing I noticed was that it seemed like all the free services DNS was about four days behind the rest of the world. Maybe that's not the case, but perception is reality to some.
$19.99 a month is not too much to pay for decent service. Folks pay more than that, some pay less, but service is the key. MSN I personally wouldn't trust for all the obvious reasons. AT&T was just weird, mindspring/earthlink were great, and there are a ton of local and regional shops which do their thing just as good or better than their nationwide counterparts.
...and some that don't...
Now I work for an ISP, I get free service that all our customers pay $19.99 for. It's a nice perk, but I'll shell the 20 spot out rather than watching ad banners any day.
$6000? That seems kinda steep... I got my MCSE for around $790 I think. That was the 6 exams plus the exam cram books.
Hell, if I can pass all 6 with nothing more that some books and an NT workstation to dink with, anybody can.
Besides, I'm fairly sure that Linus is a smart guy.
Besides, good programmers are much more valuable in the long run than MCSEs. I only got mine because I was looking for a job fresh out of school and needed a piece of paper to prove I knew something. Funny thing is, after getting that cert, I work in a place where we have linux on our desktops. Strange world...
Just what the world needs, a computer with MORE personality...
I think all but a few windows boxes I've worked with have tried to kill me by pushing my blood pressure through the roof.