As a corporate IT manager, I should upgrade xx desktop PC's because it is a good deal for me. Please tell me how ?
If all of my current applications run fine under 98
Some of my applications are legacy that will not run under NT or XP
My staff is setup/trained to handle particular quirks and updates for 98
Much of my hardware is setup with insufficient memory to support the XP footprint
Techs have recently expended significant effort to install Win-98 security patches
Will I get better MS support for XP ?
Will I not have to deal with XP insisting on "calling home" for every install ?
So how do I tell management that we need to spend ~$250+ per seat to install an updated operating system, upgraded hardware, and IT Dept. labor PLUS the downtime to each user (or overtime for the IT staff if it is done after hours). This is a significant business cost and the benefits are questionable.
I, for one, am thrilled that 98's life has been officially extended.
Okay I found a substitute for Real Player. Have not yet tried to use it, but the site note reads:
Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files. This way you can play RealMedia files without having to install the RealPlayer/RealOne Player. You do need a player that is capable of playing RealMedia and the included Media player Classic supports it and works very well.
Okay, so if I ignore the annoy-ware and spy-ware issues, I still have problems with the basic operation of Real Player. Two to be exact:
1. It is slow to respond to user input, even when it is the only thing running. I admit that a 300 MHz machine is not blindingly fast by todays standards, but Real Player should at least be usable in this environment.
2. Crashes - I can't listen for more than about 20 minutes without it locking up. Sometimes only the program, sometimes Win-98. Frustrating enough to keep one from even trying to use the software.
If only there was a Winamp plugin to play ".rm" files..........
Granted there is some efficiency lost in the low voltage DC to 120V AC conversion but newer inverters typically have only 10-15% loss. One benefit of going to the higher voltage is the ability to use smaller diameter wire in all of your house (cabin) wiring. But the bigest single benefit I see of going to AC is the convenience of being able to use virtually ANY standard appliance available at dept. stores of over the net. (Ever try to find a 12V DC coffee grinder ???)
-- Years ago, when trying to invoke the mysterious forces of the universe, you said, "Abracadabra." Today you say, "Hello, tech support?"
"Unlimited" means you could be online 24/7 and they have no grounds to gripe (unless you are violating some other portion of your service agreement).
An ISP should be allowed to place limits on the service they provide, but they also are required to let you know what you are paying for. If they offer you unlimited service, but then start charging you extra for anything over 20 hours per week, they are not living up to the terms of their contract with you.
I have no problems with limits on dialup/isdn/dsl/cable activity time but these limits need to be brought out BEFORE you sign up, and not 6 months into the contract. It is a tough market out there for ISP's and I believe people shy away from limited service.... so the marketplace decides the successful types of contracts offered.
Okay, I can see your point about the time spent on P2P networks. How would you handle the fact that many CD's are "broken" so they don't play on computer CD drives?
In their effort to stop people from ripping CD's the record companies have made it impossible to play legal copies of some songs on a computer.
I listen to 90% of my music on a computer CD player while working. What recourse do I have now??
Red sky at night, sailors delight Red sky at morning sailors take warning
(And the important corrollary...)
Brown sky all day, your in L.A.
Re:I try to avoid them altogether.
on
Fake ATM Fraud Expose
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
There are other ways an ATM can make your life miserable...... read on..
Once, about two years ago, I was shopping for Valentines Day gifts in a local market. The store had an ATM (and banking center) inside so I thought nothing of using their ATM for cash. As it turned out, one of the $20's that came from the ATM was counterfeit and the store clerk flagged it. Okay, so now it gets weird.....
I went immediately back to the banking center inside the store and told them what happened thinking I would be able to trade out the bad $20 for a good one. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG !!! Not only did they NOT replace the bill, but they forced me to fill out 3 pages of documentation on what happened, which was sent to the treasury department and was told to expect a call form them in a few weeks. And remember, the counterfeit $20 came from their machine.
Luckily, I was never contacted by the treasury dept or the FBI, but I am still out $20. Chalk it up to experience ?? I'll say one thing, I will never deal with "Union Bank of California" again.
Regenerative braking is not a panacea for solving automotive efficiency. Besides being only about 80% efficient (at its best) while active, the amount of energy saved is strongly dependent on the way one drives. Long distance trips involve very little braking compared against Stop and go traffic, which is probably, the best use of this technology. Benefit will be strongly based on what percentage of your time is spent in each type of driving.
A must have program for working under windows is "V" (found at www.fileviewer.com). As a replacement for windows explorer, it can't be beat. Also allows very selective disk searches for files or text, and even views zipped files. Aptly described as a windows version of Vernon Buerg's "List" program for DOS.
Winamp is also on this list, along with Polyview (shareware jpg/gif viewer). Rounding out the top-5 are Winzip and my personal preference, Vim.
What gets me is the value they are placing on each item downloaded. How can a "song" with a retail value of $0.99 (as found on Apple's music site) be valued at $150,000 for the purpose of copyright infringement? I understand there is some punitive value placed on the fines they are requesting, but couldn't anything above ~3X the retail value considered excessive?
As I recall earlier in this SCO saga, Microsoft was one of the first to sign up for a license to run the "tainted" software. Now that the price is known by the public, I wonder how many licenses M$ has and what they paid for them. I would bet it wasn't $699 each.
Using AT&T Wireless for the past 4+ years and firmly believe their coverage in the U.S. West and South is the best there is. While I'm paying a bit more than some of the other choices, it is worth it. Try driving across California with a Sprint user in the car and notice how often AT&T is usable while the Sprint phone isn't.
I could agree with the logic of song preview before purchase. In looking for download files, I have found MANY differenc music choices that I would not have seen otherwise. But with all the new CD's being "corrupted" and not playable on a PC, I have not purchassed anything in a long while.... Just a thought
High performance DAC's are already available in the $2.00 range. Think of the dual channel DAC's required for a sound card or Walkman. 84 dB SNR is roughly 14 bits (high performance in my book). Admittedly, the $2.00 is a component cost in a system. Stand alone devices are going to be higher.
The first time I set my phone down next to the computer monitor and a call came in, my monitor "Freaked" !! I thought it was about to go south. After about the second ring, I realized the RF signals were interfering with the computer monitor screen traces. If you get the phone close enough, you can even see the periodic signaling that goes on even when the phone is in standby mode.
As for transmitting when the power is off, I have yet to see a phone capable of that. If you are that paranoid, just take the battery out. Cell phone caps hold VERY LITTLE energy, certainly not enough to transmit for any significant time.
If you look at this "problem" from the other side. Spam exists because it is effective. If 100,000 email boxes can be spammed for almost free, only a VERY small percentage of them need to respond to make a profit for the spammer. Remove the financial incentive and spam will die.
As much as I personally dislike the idea, a workable solution is to charge a small fee for every email sent. (I realize this opens a huge can of worms... who collects the fee, who receives it, potential for abuse, etc.) Can you comment on how effective this method could be?
Can I suggest reading the article. They are not actually "listening" to a single drivers radio, more using demographics to estimate the types of drivers on the road at a given time and tayloring their ad-sign with that info.
What does a Segway give me that "standard" electric scooter doesn't?
Speed - Segway seems on the low end here but either can have governors
Weight - Segway is still on the heavy side for a comparable performance scooter
Size - Maybe the Segway has a small benefit here at least in operating footprint. For storage, most scooters fold up and are smaller.
Performance - If you don't have any balance, maybe the Segway has a benefit, otherwise the performance is poor at best (speed, battery life)
Maneuverability - comparable ?
Cost - Don't make me laugh
One good thing that has come from all this hype, some laws are being changed to allow scooters on sidewalks (this HAS to be part of the Segway business plan). Hopefully some of us "normal" people can benefit from all this Segway legal effort.
Free speech is just that, speech that is free from censorship and control. Where do you draw the line. If you outlaw speech associated with destruction and killings, does this mean one is no longer able to talk about the Holocaust? Drawing lines here is very difficult and is guaranteed to place you on that "slippery slope" to killing the First ammendment.
Maybe only a technicality, but I believe the article states the instructions are for removing power from the tracks, not destroying them.
I suspect the new file system is an attempt at forcing all users of older windows versions to upgrade. Since adding features has not significantly increased the number of users upgrading, making the file system incompatible will. While this move may make only marginal technical sense, it appears to make good business sense (if the goal is to increase $'s to M$)
The major benefit I see in Ricochet is its ability to serve a MOBILE customer. Most wireless broadband is fixed, installed at one location and never moved. Ricochet allows you to use it at home, at work, at a friends house, in the park, or while driving up 101 (assuming someone else is watching the road:-)
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Okay MS, let me get this striaght.....
As a corporate IT manager, I should upgrade xx desktop PC's because it is a good deal for me. Please tell me how ?
If all of my current applications run fine under 98
Some of my applications are legacy that will not run under NT or XP
My staff is setup/trained to handle particular quirks and updates for 98
Much of my hardware is setup with insufficient memory to support the XP footprint
Techs have recently expended significant effort to install Win-98 security patches
Will I get better MS support for XP ?
Will I not have to deal with XP insisting on "calling home" for every install ?
So how do I tell management that we need to spend ~$250+ per seat to install an updated operating system, upgraded hardware, and IT Dept. labor PLUS the downtime to each user (or overtime for the IT staff if it is done after hours). This is a significant business cost and the benefits are questionable.
I, for one, am thrilled that 98's life has been officially extended.
Okay I found a substitute for Real Player. Have not yet tried to use it, but the site note reads:
a lterna tive.htmt ernative/p rivate/1.11a re/04_data.ht ml
Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files. This way you can play RealMedia files without having to install the RealPlayer/RealOne Player. You do need a player that is capable of playing RealMedia and the included Media player Classic supports it and works very well.
Check out:
http://reformed-theology.org/downloads/real
http://lekkerekwal.com/downloadz/RealAl
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freew
Okay, so if I ignore the annoy-ware and spy-ware issues, I still have problems with the basic operation of Real Player. Two to be exact:
1. It is slow to respond to user input, even when it is the only thing running. I admit that a 300 MHz machine is not blindingly fast by todays standards, but Real Player should at least be usable in this environment.
2. Crashes - I can't listen for more than about 20 minutes without it locking up. Sometimes only the program, sometimes Win-98. Frustrating enough to keep one from even trying to use the software.
If only there was a Winamp plugin to play ".rm" files..........
--
Just my $0.02
Granted there is some efficiency lost in the low voltage DC to 120V AC conversion but newer inverters typically have only 10-15% loss. One benefit of going to the higher voltage is the ability to use smaller diameter wire in all of your house (cabin) wiring. But the bigest single benefit I see of going to AC is the convenience of being able to use virtually ANY standard appliance available at dept. stores of over the net. (Ever try to find a 12V DC coffee grinder ???)
--
Years ago, when trying to invoke the mysterious forces of the universe, you said, "Abracadabra."
Today you say, "Hello, tech support?"
No, I disagree !!!!
"Unlimited" means you could be online 24/7 and they have no grounds to gripe (unless you are violating some other portion of your service agreement).
An ISP should be allowed to place limits on the service they provide, but they also are required to let you know what you are paying for. If they offer you unlimited service, but then start charging you extra for anything over 20 hours per week, they are not living up to the terms of their contract with you.
I have no problems with limits on dialup/isdn/dsl/cable activity time but these limits need to be brought out BEFORE you sign up, and not 6 months into the contract. It is a tough market out there for ISP's and I believe people shy away from limited service.... so the marketplace decides the successful types of contracts offered.
--
Just my $0.02
Okay, I can see your point about the time spent on P2P networks. How would you handle the fact that many CD's are "broken" so they don't play on computer CD drives?
In their effort to stop people from ripping CD's the record companies have made it impossible to play legal copies of some songs on a computer.
I listen to 90% of my music on a computer CD player while working. What recourse do I have now??
Red sky at night, sailors delight
Red sky at morning sailors take warning
(And the important corrollary...)
Brown sky all day, your in L.A.
There are other ways an ATM can make your life miserable...... read on..
Once, about two years ago, I was shopping for Valentines Day gifts in a local market. The store had an ATM (and banking center) inside so I thought nothing of using their ATM for cash. As it turned out, one of the $20's that came from the ATM was counterfeit and the store clerk flagged it. Okay, so now it gets weird.....
I went immediately back to the banking center inside the store and told them what happened thinking I would be able to trade out the bad $20 for a good one. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG !!! Not only did they NOT replace the bill, but they forced me to fill out 3 pages of documentation on what happened, which was sent to the treasury department and was told to expect a call form them in a few weeks. And remember, the counterfeit $20 came from their machine.
Luckily, I was never contacted by the treasury dept or the FBI, but I am still out $20. Chalk it up to experience ?? I'll say one thing, I will never deal with "Union Bank of California" again.
Hmmmm, I thought the lawsuits were all aimed at people providing the downloaded materials, not the individual doing the downloading.
Regenerative braking is not a panacea for solving automotive efficiency. Besides being only about 80% efficient (at its best) while active, the amount of energy saved is strongly dependent on the way one drives. Long distance trips involve very little braking compared against Stop and go traffic, which is probably, the best use of this technology. Benefit will be strongly based on what percentage of your time is spent in each type of driving.
A must have program for working under windows is "V" (found at www.fileviewer.com). As a replacement for windows explorer, it can't be beat. Also allows very selective disk searches for files or text, and even views zipped files. Aptly described as a windows version of Vernon Buerg's "List" program for DOS.
Winamp is also on this list, along with Polyview (shareware jpg/gif viewer). Rounding out the top-5 are Winzip and my personal preference, Vim.
-- At least my $0.02
What gets me is the value they are placing on each item downloaded. How can a "song" with a retail value of $0.99 (as found on Apple's music site) be valued at $150,000 for the purpose of copyright infringement? I understand there is some punitive value placed on the fines they are requesting, but couldn't anything above ~3X the retail value considered excessive?
-- Just my $.02
As I recall earlier in this SCO saga, Microsoft was one of the first to sign up for a license to run the "tainted" software. Now that the price is known by the public, I wonder how many licenses M$ has and what they paid for them. I would bet it wasn't $699 each.
Using AT&T Wireless for the past 4+ years and firmly believe their coverage in the U.S. West and South is the best there is. While I'm paying a bit more than some of the other choices, it is worth it. Try driving across California with a Sprint user in the car and notice how often AT&T is usable while the Sprint phone isn't.
Just my $0.02
He's Right, Communism... Oops,.. er Terrorism MUST be stopped.
I could agree with the logic of song preview before purchase. In looking for download files, I have found MANY differenc music choices that I would not have seen otherwise. But with all the new CD's being "corrupted" and not playable on a PC, I have not purchassed anything in a long while.... Just a thought
High performance DAC's are already available in the $2.00 range. Think of the dual channel DAC's
required for a sound card or Walkman. 84 dB SNR is roughly 14 bits (high performance in my book). Admittedly, the $2.00 is a component cost in a system. Stand alone devices are going to be higher.
The first time I set my phone down next to the computer monitor and a call came in, my monitor "Freaked" !! I thought it was about to go south. After about the second ring, I realized the RF signals were interfering with the computer monitor screen traces. If you get the phone close enough, you can even see the periodic signaling that goes on even when the phone is in standby mode.
As for transmitting when the power is off, I have yet to see a phone capable of that. If you are that paranoid, just take the battery out. Cell phone caps hold VERY LITTLE energy, certainly not enough to transmit for any significant time.
-- Just my $0.02
If you look at this "problem" from the other side. Spam exists because it is effective. If 100,000 email boxes can be spammed for almost free, only a VERY small percentage of them need to respond to make a profit for the spammer. Remove the financial incentive and spam will die.
As much as I personally dislike the idea, a workable solution is to charge a small fee for every email sent. (I realize this opens a huge can of worms... who collects the fee, who receives it, potential for abuse, etc.) Can you comment on how effective this method could be?
Can I suggest reading the article.
They are not actually "listening" to
a single drivers radio, more using
demographics to estimate the types
of drivers on the road at a given time
and tayloring their ad-sign with that
info.
Okay, I just don't get it........
What does a Segway give me that "standard" electric scooter doesn't?
Speed - Segway seems on the low end here but either can have governors
Weight - Segway is still on the heavy side for a comparable performance scooter
Size - Maybe the Segway has a small benefit here at least in operating footprint. For storage, most scooters fold up and are smaller.
Performance - If you don't have any balance, maybe the Segway has a benefit, otherwise the performance is poor at best (speed, battery life)
Maneuverability - comparable ?
Cost - Don't make me laugh
One good thing that has come from all this hype, some laws are being changed to allow scooters on sidewalks (this HAS to be part of the Segway business plan). Hopefully some of us "normal" people can benefit from all this Segway legal effort.
Just my $.02
If it is before the full moon, you should be able to see fairly well in the hours before sunrise...just after the moon sets.
:-)
The hard part is getting up that early
Free speech is just that, speech that is free from censorship and control. Where do you draw the line. If you outlaw speech associated with destruction and killings, does this mean one is no longer able to talk about the Holocaust? Drawing lines here is very difficult and is guaranteed to place you on that "slippery slope" to killing the First ammendment.
Maybe only a technicality, but I believe the article states the instructions are for removing power from the tracks, not destroying them.
I suspect the new file system is an attempt at forcing all users of older windows versions to upgrade. Since adding features has not significantly increased the number of users upgrading, making the file system incompatible will. While this move may make only marginal technical sense, it appears to make good business sense (if the goal is to increase $'s to M$)
The major benefit I see in Ricochet is its ability to serve a MOBILE customer. Most wireless broadband is fixed, installed at one location and never moved. Ricochet allows you to use it at home, at work, at a friends house, in the park, or while driving up 101 (assuming someone else is watching the road :-)