I hate spyware. It is much worse than most of the viruses I've dealt with. As a support technician in a large corporation I deal with it every single day. Some days, all day.
I'd love to see a tool that would deal with all security threats to the desktop. A single tool that would protect against viruses, malware and would act as a smart desktop firewall. We already use an anti-span service but I think the tool should do that too. In the workplace it should be centrally controlled and updated automatically. It should report on attemts and allow the networking folks to use this data to stop stuff at the corporate firewall.
While I am dreaming, I think I'd even like to tool to provide a transparent, managable method of deploying service packs and patches to the desktop (although that is I admit probably better seperately with software deployment tools).
I suppose the server boys would probably need a tool to keep those back-room boxes squeeky clean too. Maybe a special server version of the same software could be slapped on those bad-boys.
I understand why companies are reluctant to share data but in the case of "common security threats" I think that an exception should be made and an automated but monitorable system of threat identification and reporting should be built into the software so as soon as a new threat is identified it can be made available to everyone using the software.
Then we can all cooperativly figure out who is doing this and we can publish that information somewere (like slashdot?) and we can provide them with a little justice!
I must be a "demon customer." When you think about it, most often electronics are "want items" not "need items." This means that you can afford to wait for the really good deals and this is what I do. When the big day to buy the new electronic item comes, I'm up early and hit the store just as the doors open. I walk directly to the department and try to locate the item. If I can't find it I ask a salesperson where it is. If I can, I simply ask them to point me in the direction of it and I get it myself. I try not to get "sales person assistance" if I can help it. I then take my purchase directly to the check out and I decline any "service plan" that is offered me.
If a sales person pushes, I tell them in no uncertain terms that I am not interested in plans, accessories, or other things. If they push a second time, I tell them I will not be pushed and that I do not appreciate their interference. That always stops them. If they make a "final comment" I will either abandon the purchase or ignore them (depending on how bad I want it).
When I have to make a return, I try to be as perfect as possible. I save even the plastic and the tiewraps and put the package back exactly as it was when I opened it. I return the bag and even the plastic outer-wrap. I never make up excuses, if it quit working, I'll say that. If it didn't meet my expectations, I'll say that. If I am making a return, only rarely will I accept an exchange. If the return is not going smoothly, I will give the clerk two choices, either immediately accept the return or call the manager. If they call the manager, I will tell him/her there are two choices, either accept the return or I will cancel the transaction on my credit card. That always works.
As far as I am concerend, I am the customer. In a sense I vote with my money. I am free to spend it where I want, when I want. If you want my money, you will do it my way or I will go somewhere that they will.
I guess that makes me a demon customer and damn I am proud to be one. It is what makes good companies profitable and bad companies go out of business. Businesses need to compete for my money. They need to offer products at fair prices, provide a good shopping experience, and give great customer service or I will vote them off the island. I am a demon and am proud of it!
You didn't convince me of somthing that I didn't alreay know. Almost every company has some disgruntled workers - perhaps fifteen percent of their workforce. But the majority of their workers are hard working honest people who take pride in their work. Sure, they may have a few gripes but they do the best they can do and many, perhaps most - really stretch to go the extra distance.
Too bad that small percentage - the people like you - hurt the reputation of the majority! If you worked flipping burgers, you would be the asshole that spits on the burgers. Jerks like you are everywhere and you hurt the honest hardworking people who only want a decent day's pay for a decent days work.
You can't possibly convince me that you are more than a small percentage of the workforce. I get laptops shipped to me every day and of the thousands that I have handled over the years, I have yet to have had one damaged in shipping. You should see some of them I get too. At least once a week, I will get one in a "letter box."
One of your competitors has delivered a laptop in working condition to me that had the shipping label pasted directly on the computer!
I'd advise you to find a better attitude, the one you have now does not serve you well and will prevent you from getting somewhere in life.
Not really, every month I get a couple of magazines but none of them are computer related anymore. I simply got sick and tired of the lies, damed lies I read. Every time a new whatcamacall it came out every magazine review called it the best thing since sliced bread. Only rarely did the thing they were touting do much better than it's predicessor. It was so obvious that all that they were doing was pandering to the advertisers. So, I quit reading them - in a sense, I discovered more honest reviews on the internet.
I do read Pop-sci every month and I have to say that when I read about a product that they may advertise, I will take their review with a grain of salt too.
The EPA numbers only moderately emulate city or highway driving. The "human factor" has largely been removed from the process. This is probably in an effort to bring some meaningfulness to the numbers. If all cars are measured equally, then the numbers should mean something (in theory at least).
Does the typical driver of a Ford Focus drive their car the same as the typical owner of a Camaro? I'd highly doubt it. This is where (I think) the formula fails. I rarely have numbers that fall as low as the EPA estimates. I'm a pretty gentle driver especially on the highway and the roads I usually drive on are flat. If I lived in hilly terrain, or accelerated like a bat out of hell, I could not achieve the MPG I get.
I'm not a slow driver, nor do I hold up traffic when I leave the stop light but my foot gets very steady when I achive speed. That is the trick to good mileage, stay steady. Once your mass gets rolling only apply the power required to keep your speed.
The EPA numbers are estimates, applied in exactly the same way on every vehicle tested. I wouldn't doubt that it has happened where a manufacturer has "tuned" their product to give good results in the tests. Kind of like PC makers will tune a PC to give good benchmarks. Your results may vary, the numbers are for comparison purposes only.
Oh, and the hybrids may not provide accurate results in tests designed to be a good average for gas engines. The best results may come from a different method of driving.
A good portion of my day is spent dealing with spyware. I've noticed that in the past several months it has gotten worse, in some cases far worse.
A law in the United States will only affect those companies with a legal presence in the United States. Many, many companies that offer software aren't in the U.S. Even if the law is effective on companies here, it will just migrate to somewhere that it isn't regulated and those Kaaza type companies will still be immune.
While I hope you are right, I think that you are wrong and I guess that my attitude is that it is probably better dealt with using technology than laws. The loopholes in technology are easier to close.
My ideal solution would be a system that would detect all types of malware and security threats and know how to fix them automatically. I'd like to see one component be "forward looking" where it would monitor computers and forward suspicious activity to a database that would be used to identify new threats in an almost real time manner. Of course this in and of itself could be considered "spyware" by some (because it would be reporting activity on your computer). But if all of a sudden xyzabc.dll started appearing on hundreds of computers in a short period of time, a human could evaluate it and figure out if it is a threat. If it is, it could be blocked on uninfected machines.
I did some research (I Googled the question: "Is leaded gasoline sold in the United States?"). The answer I got was that it was last sold in the United States in 1996. See http://www.omegamotors.com/enjoy/gasoline/gasoline _13.html or Google it yourself if you wish. ALL gasoline powered cars in the United States run on unleaded because Leaded is simply not available.
Perhaps there are some places where leaded is available but frankly, I haven't seen one in years here in Minneapolis. There are more than 10,000 pre- '64 cars here for back to the '50's weekend this weekend and almost all of them are filling up and running on unleaded.
Some car stores sell an aditive that older car owners use but most tell me that they have had no problems using it. This was also my experience, I've had several older cars myself.
I get a certain kind of comfort when I pull in to the gas station and see a really old car using the same gas pump as me. In the auto industry there have been many changes in the past hundred years but a 1913 Model T can still buy and use the same gas as my car can.
BIOS is a sort of standard that assures compatibility. When we drift away from that standard, we start losing a very core basic value - the kind of thing that stops us from "filling up at the pump" so to speak.
I want my BIOS. Other things can change but I want my BIOS because I feel better knowing that some things stay the same.
I work for a large company (Fortune 500 level). A few years ago we moved from a mainframe environment to Oracle Financials and a few additional prgorams that were supposed to make everything better. It was a nightmare that cost the company millions and almost created financial disaster. The story is so similar, they customized the software for us and the customizations broke when a required upgrade was performed.
To this day there are things that should be easy that aren't but at least it works. Sort of anyhow.
After the project was over we learned that other companies had similar experiences. Another company that was similar to our main buisness unit had elected to go with almost exactly the same setup as us. They too were driven to the brink of ruin.
My feeling to this day is that we would have been better off staying with the mainframe system or going to something that emulated what we had been doing. It was the bells and whistles that broke it all for us and that other company.
How bad was it? Well the inventory didn't work right and we were unable to deliver product to our distributors even though we physically had it in stock. Since what we produce is perishable we had to throw away product we counldn't sell so we lost twice over.
There are three R's in earth friendly stweardship.
They are:
Reduce - don't use what you don't need.
Reuse - If at all possible, reuse.
Recycle - Recycle what you can't reuse.
All three have their place. Reduction of use has the greatest impact followed by reuse, and finally recycle which is in essence the last alternitive but is still better than throw away.
Something like the terminal project is better than recycling by an entire order of magnitude. Having said that however, sometimes equipment gets so outdated it is no longer good for much of anything at all. Nobody has much use for an XT or 286 anymore and they deserve to be recycled becuase aside from very limited uses, they are too old to be much good.
I provide support in a corporate environment where a percentage of our users have local administrator rights on their Win2K boxes. They have these rights for legitamate, valid business reasons and most of them are computer savy people. Yet they get infected with spyware on a regular basis. Often enough they tell me that it just happens. I have to believe in a certain percentage of cases, this is true. Other times, they are fooled in to installing it.
It interfers with some of their business software and God only knows what information this adware is pulling and using. I hate the stuff. I also hate to re-image the computers but have started to form the opinion that this may actually be the best course of action to take. Why do I feel this way? Because when I re-image the computer, it stayes spyware free a bit longer. I'm pretty sure that this is partly a social factor. When I tell the user that I had to tear it down and start over again, I think they are more careful.
Someone using pirates software probably shouldn't be eligible for any kind of support BUT the line isn't that clear.
If an unpatched copy of the O/S can cause problems to the community and a patch can fix it then the issue becomes murkier.
Perhaps the solution would be some sort of counter that requires a user to re-register their software every now and again based on their internet usage? If they are registered they can get patched, if they are not then they lose network operability (except to a registration and patch server).
I know this would be an inconvenient and unpopular idea but something like this would help assure honesty and properly patched and protected systems.
Ethanol as a motor fuel has been around for years and has been "The Next Big Thing"(tm) for most of that time. Ethanol as a gas additive, E85, pure ethanol, ethanol/fuel cell combinations. They are all great on paper and most would all probably work in commercial applications.
Ethanol is able to be manufatured from "locally" grown products in "local" plants by "local" employees. In many ways it is less polluting. There are many great things about it. Even big business sees the potential.
So why are the cards stacked against it? Because oil prices can go wherever they want to out of the well head. If the big E ever started getting a foot off the ground, the big oil producers would sacrifice profit to keep pumping. They would do this to assure that our addiction to oil wouldn't slack. Because the oil processing infrastructure already meets 100% of the demand for oil, these costs can't be beat by Ethanol processors (it costs a lot to build a plant). Consumers would see no need to change because oil can be kept cheaper than ethanol for as long as the producers want it to be.
Think of it like a Microsoft versus Netscape. The costs can be borne by the manufacturers for as long as it takes to beat the competition.
I no longer have a turntable, nor do I have an 8 track tape deck, I have cassette and CD now and I'd wager that most people are getting there. I do still have some albums, but they are memories and art more than media at this point.
I have one computer with a 3.5" floppy, none with 5.25 or 8 inch drives. I've never owned a holorath card reader or paper tape reader but I did have a cassette recorder hooked up to a Atari at one time.
Museums are a different thing. They are there for history, my home and my business aren't. I'm glad the turntable is gone, I actually chuckle a bit when I think about 8 track. I personally think beta was better than VHS but I went VHS and then I went DVD. I still have the VHS recorder but it is almost unused except for when I record a tape from my camcorder.
It ain't a digital vs analog argument. It is a progression of technology argument. Things change, and after a few years, they have changed enough so that it "hurts" to go go back.
Okay, maybe I am overstating this but think of the things that have come and gone in the past thirty tree years. In 1971, the standard product to deliver music was the LP or the 45. A lot of people used 8 tracks for their cars, and the cassette was popular for recorders but not too many people had stereo cassette recorders. Quadrophonic was the "in thing."
Most Audiophiles recommended the Dual 1249 manual turntable mounted on a granite block dampend by rubber. They also felt that tube amps were far superior to transistor amps because the sound was "wetter." Altec-Lansing speakers were the very best and you needed a Fisher reciever and a Marantz amp.
Computers were something huge, they did data with reel to reel magnetic tapes or punch cards or punched paper tape. Baudot was as common as ASCII. Teletypes and VDT's were the common input devices. The very few floppy drives out there were 8' units.
So thirty-three years later, getting the data from that day's generation of computers to today's computers would be difficult to nearly impossible. The "quality" of the data would be suspect not because of the retention quality of the media but because the data itself would be pretty weak in comparison to what we would collect today.
I have no doubt that in thirty three years we will look back on 2004's computing equipment in the same way. We are in the infancy stage still. Computing has a long ways to go. We'll probably be considered "BQ" (Before Quantum) by 2037!
Those CD's and DVD's will be antique. Something much smaller and faster with more storage will replace them.
The idea of "disposable cars" disturbs me. But when I think about it on an "outside of the box" level, I realize that we already have them. We have them because style and marketing make us want newer cars. Cars are status symbols that very much tell other people about us. We buy them to show others a piece of our personality. And we trade them in to get a car that tells people something about us that was missing in the previous model. Cars are a class system.
When I think a bit further about it, I'm thinking wouldn't it be neat to have a modular snap-together system of major assemblies that would fit in a chassis? That way you could buy whatever module you wanted and install it. You could have a Ford motor, A GM Tranny, an Allison rear end in a Honda body. When a module got to the point where it needed replacement you could shop for the features and price you wanted. Rebuilders could fix up old modules and sell them as replacements.
This concept is not without precident in the automotive industry. Checker did it for years and years, some big truck manufacturers do it to some extent today. Some buses have their motors and transmissions mounted on a pan that can be installed with a forklift, putting the bus with a blown engine or tranny back on the road in as little as forty five minutes.
It ain't gonna happen though. Manufacturers like things the way they are today.
I go to several large old car shows a year. I think I have hit on an idea that will put me in nice wheels at a reasonable cost. Several of these shows have areas set aside for cars that are for sale. Some of the really hot restored cars sell for tens of thousands of dollars but less hot fully restored cars are frequently inexpensive. You can get six cyl '67 Mustangs in fully-restored shape for five grand. This is a lot less than a new car and these cars are wonderful, unique, and would be up to the task of being a daily driver. I am seriously considering one of these machines insetad of a new car.
This is like the pot calling the kettle black. Clear channel is a large national company that "owns" most of the large markets in the U.S.
Before deregulation local radio stations were pretty much just that. Many were locally owned, had local programming staff and even those that were owned by outside interests functioned pretty much autonomosly.
In Minneapolis (and many other cities) Clear Channel has bought up most of the more popular stations and consolidated their operations. The different stations share sales staffs, engineering staffs, and administrative staff and in some cases even on-air personalities. Their programming decisions come down from the corporate level.
Not all of this is bad. There are improvments in effiency and reduced labor costs and other business related benefits. I have no problem with that.
What does bother me is that it makes it difficult for new artists to get airplay. When the programming decisions are handed down by such a select few people for the whole country, they only pick from a stable of artists that are already established or have the right "influence."
It is like the difference between going to Mc Donalds and going to a mom & pop locally owned cafe. You aren't gonna find any local specialties and while you can probably find something you like at McDonalds, you won't get anything really great either!
Lawyers and lawsuits are part of the cost of business in any but the smallest of companies. That isn't to say that Microsoft is doing it right, or ethically.
There is a difference between legal and ethical. I don't know if what they are doing is against the law but in my personal opinion, when they cost the competition so much money in legal fees that they can't do it any longer, they are no longer operating ethically.
Courts should wise up but I don't think they will at least until after November. Then it will either be more likely or less likely.
I'm late for work, I jump in my underpowered Toyota Pyris hybrid and rush off for work. Manage to get it up to 66MPH and hear the speed alarm at just about the same moment I see the printer shoot off a slip of paper. A speeding ticket. These tickets have evolved to a sort of tax. The automated equipment can't take your license and can't stand up to cross examination in court so, they don't count as points on your driver's license so you are emailed a ticket you have to pay. In essence, a speed tax. I owe another $108.00. Third time this month!
A couple miles down the roadway, My GPS beeps and tells me that I should take an alternate route, there is congestion ahead. I'm sick of this because everyone else gets the same message and everyone is told to take the same alternate route. I'll ignore the advice today. Chances are, enough people will leave my route so that it will open up.
I use my voice activated phone to call the office and tell them I'll be a bit late, traffic is heavy.
The road ahead is jammed, it is not moving at all. I swerver to the right to make an exit but my radar screams! I look over my shoulder and see a car a hundred feet behind me. The alarm doesn't think that is enough room. I hear someone say "Go ahead" and I make my lane change. This intercar communication is pretty cool but it seems like almost every night you hear about a case of road-rage where someone got really pissed about what they heard. Maybe it isn't great for people with anger managment problems. I say thanks and catch my exit in a nick of time.
Golden Arches show up on my LCD display and I push the icon to place my drive through order. I'll swing in and pick up my coffee and muffin and my bank card will be debited. It is pretty cool how they know so much about you but I've heard that there are some slammers out there who routinely debit people as they drive by. It hasnt happened to me yet though.
I arrive at work and turn my car over to the valet. He can drive it slowly without the key within one mile of where I dropped it off. It is a nice service to use in this part of the city, things are pretty congested around here. I'm not worried, I can tell where my car is from my desktop, I can also monitor the wife and the kids!
I don't know how we did it back in the first part of the century! Only problem is that I gotta work 13 hours a day to pay for all this convenience!
Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. It is good business practice for a company to pay attention to their competition and to lay plans to stay comeptitive. This is not illegal nor is it unethical. It is not anti-competitive behavior, it is sound business practice that is applied by the smallest mom-and-pop to the largest of the Fortune 500 companies.
I'm not saying that Microsoft is doing nothing wrong but they have the right and responsibility to compete. Every business does.
Slashdot Mirror
I hate spyware. It is much worse than most of the viruses I've dealt with. As a support technician in a large corporation I deal with it every single day. Some days, all day.
I'd love to see a tool that would deal with all security threats to the desktop. A single tool that would protect against viruses, malware and would act as a smart desktop firewall. We already use an anti-span service but I think the tool should do that too. In the workplace it should be centrally controlled and updated automatically. It should report on attemts and allow the networking folks to use this data to stop stuff at the corporate firewall.
While I am dreaming, I think I'd even like to tool to provide a transparent, managable method of deploying service packs and patches to the desktop (although that is I admit probably better seperately with software deployment tools).
I suppose the server boys would probably need a tool to keep those back-room boxes squeeky clean too. Maybe a special server version of the same software could be slapped on those bad-boys.
I understand why companies are reluctant to share data but in the case of "common security threats" I think that an exception should be made and an automated but monitorable system of threat identification and reporting should be built into the software so as soon as a new threat is identified it can be made available to everyone using the software.
Then we can all cooperativly figure out who is doing this and we can publish that information somewere (like slashdot?) and we can provide them with a little justice!
I've been there. Boise ID is plenty strange.
I must be a "demon customer." When you think about it, most often electronics are "want items" not "need items." This means that you can afford to wait for the really good deals and this is what I do. When the big day to buy the new electronic item comes, I'm up early and hit the store just as the doors open. I walk directly to the department and try to locate the item. If I can't find it I ask a salesperson where it is. If I can, I simply ask them to point me in the direction of it and I get it myself. I try not to get "sales person assistance" if I can help it. I then take my purchase directly to the check out and I decline any "service plan" that is offered me.
If a sales person pushes, I tell them in no uncertain terms that I am not interested in plans, accessories, or other things. If they push a second time, I tell them I will not be pushed and that I do not appreciate their interference. That always stops them. If they make a "final comment" I will either abandon the purchase or ignore them (depending on how bad I want it).
When I have to make a return, I try to be as perfect as possible. I save even the plastic and the tiewraps and put the package back exactly as it was when I opened it. I return the bag and even the plastic outer-wrap. I never make up excuses, if it quit working, I'll say that. If it didn't meet my expectations, I'll say that. If I am making a return, only rarely will I accept an exchange. If the return is not going smoothly, I will give the clerk two choices, either immediately accept the return or call the manager. If they call the manager, I will tell him/her there are two choices, either accept the return or I will cancel the transaction on my credit card. That always works.
As far as I am concerend, I am the customer. In a sense I vote with my money. I am free to spend it where I want, when I want. If you want my money, you will do it my way or I will go somewhere that they will.
I guess that makes me a demon customer and damn I am proud to be one. It is what makes good companies profitable and bad companies go out of business. Businesses need to compete for my money. They need to offer products at fair prices, provide a good shopping experience, and give great customer service or I will vote them off the island. I am a demon and am proud of it!
Dear Shit for Brains,
You didn't convince me of somthing that I didn't alreay know. Almost every company has some disgruntled workers - perhaps fifteen percent of their workforce. But the majority of their workers are hard working honest people who take pride in their work. Sure, they may have a few gripes but they do the best they can do and many, perhaps most - really stretch to go the extra distance.
Too bad that small percentage - the people like you - hurt the reputation of the majority! If you worked flipping burgers, you would be the asshole that spits on the burgers. Jerks like you are everywhere and you hurt the honest hardworking people who only want a decent day's pay for a decent days work.
You can't possibly convince me that you are more than a small percentage of the workforce. I get laptops shipped to me every day and of the thousands that I have handled over the years, I have yet to have had one damaged in shipping. You should see some of them I get too. At least once a week, I will get one in a "letter box."
One of your competitors has delivered a laptop in working condition to me that had the shipping label pasted directly on the computer!
I'd advise you to find a better attitude, the one you have now does not serve you well and will prevent you from getting somewhere in life.
Not really, every month I get a couple of magazines but none of them are computer related anymore. I simply got sick and tired of the lies, damed lies I read. Every time a new whatcamacall it came out every magazine review called it the best thing since sliced bread. Only rarely did the thing they were touting do much better than it's predicessor. It was so obvious that all that they were doing was pandering to the advertisers. So, I quit reading them - in a sense, I discovered more honest reviews on the internet.
I do read Pop-sci every month and I have to say that when I read about a product that they may advertise, I will take their review with a grain of salt too.
The EPA numbers only moderately emulate city or highway driving. The "human factor" has largely been removed from the process. This is probably in an effort to bring some meaningfulness to the numbers. If all cars are measured equally, then the numbers should mean something (in theory at least).
Does the typical driver of a Ford Focus drive their car the same as the typical owner of a Camaro? I'd highly doubt it. This is where (I think) the formula fails. I rarely have numbers that fall as low as the EPA estimates. I'm a pretty gentle driver especially on the highway and the roads I usually drive on are flat. If I lived in hilly terrain, or accelerated like a bat out of hell, I could not achieve the MPG I get.
I'm not a slow driver, nor do I hold up traffic when I leave the stop light but my foot gets very steady when I achive speed. That is the trick to good mileage, stay steady. Once your mass gets rolling only apply the power required to keep your speed.
The EPA numbers are estimates, applied in exactly the same way on every vehicle tested. I wouldn't doubt that it has happened where a manufacturer has "tuned" their product to give good results in the tests. Kind of like PC makers will tune a PC to give good benchmarks. Your results may vary, the numbers are for comparison purposes only.
Oh, and the hybrids may not provide accurate results in tests designed to be a good average for gas engines. The best results may come from a different method of driving.
A good portion of my day is spent dealing with spyware. I've noticed that in the past several months it has gotten worse, in some cases far worse.
A law in the United States will only affect those companies with a legal presence in the United States. Many, many companies that offer software aren't in the U.S. Even if the law is effective on companies here, it will just migrate to somewhere that it isn't regulated and those Kaaza type companies will still be immune.
While I hope you are right, I think that you are wrong and I guess that my attitude is that it is probably better dealt with using technology than laws. The loopholes in technology are easier to close.
My ideal solution would be a system that would detect all types of malware and security threats and know how to fix them automatically. I'd like to see one component be "forward looking" where it would monitor computers and forward suspicious activity to a database that would be used to identify new threats in an almost real time manner. Of course this in and of itself could be considered "spyware" by some (because it would be reporting activity on your computer). But if all of a sudden xyzabc.dll started appearing on hundreds of computers in a short period of time, a human could evaluate it and figure out if it is a threat. If it is, it could be blocked on uninfected machines.
I did some research (I Googled the question: "Is leaded gasoline sold in the United States?"). The answer I got was that it was last sold in the United States in 1996. See http://www.omegamotors.com/enjoy/gasoline/gasoline _13.html or Google it yourself if you wish. ALL gasoline powered cars in the United States run on unleaded because Leaded is simply not available.
Perhaps there are some places where leaded is available but frankly, I haven't seen one in years here in Minneapolis. There are more than 10,000 pre- '64 cars here for back to the '50's weekend this weekend and almost all of them are filling up and running on unleaded.
Some car stores sell an aditive that older car owners use but most tell me that they have had no problems using it. This was also my experience, I've had several older cars myself.
No, but a 1913 Model "T" can and does run on unleaded. Leaded gas is no longer sold in the U.S.A.
I get a certain kind of comfort when I pull in to the gas station and see a really old car using the same gas pump as me. In the auto industry there have been many changes in the past hundred years but a 1913 Model T can still buy and use the same gas as my car can.
BIOS is a sort of standard that assures compatibility. When we drift away from that standard, we start losing a very core basic value - the kind of thing that stops us from "filling up at the pump" so to speak.
I want my BIOS. Other things can change but I want my BIOS because I feel better knowing that some things stay the same.
I work for a large company (Fortune 500 level). A few years ago we moved from a mainframe environment to Oracle Financials and a few additional prgorams that were supposed to make everything better. It was a nightmare that cost the company millions and almost created financial disaster. The story is so similar, they customized the software for us and the customizations broke when a required upgrade was performed.
To this day there are things that should be easy that aren't but at least it works. Sort of anyhow.
After the project was over we learned that other companies had similar experiences. Another company that was similar to our main buisness unit had elected to go with almost exactly the same setup as us. They too were driven to the brink of ruin.
My feeling to this day is that we would have been better off staying with the mainframe system or going to something that emulated what we had been doing. It was the bells and whistles that broke it all for us and that other company.
How bad was it? Well the inventory didn't work right and we were unable to deliver product to our distributors even though we physically had it in stock. Since what we produce is perishable we had to throw away product we counldn't sell so we lost twice over.
There are three R's in earth friendly stweardship.
They are:
Reduce - don't use what you don't need.
Reuse - If at all possible, reuse.
Recycle - Recycle what you can't reuse.
All three have their place. Reduction of use has the greatest impact followed by reuse, and finally recycle which is in essence the last alternitive but is still better than throw away.
Something like the terminal project is better than recycling by an entire order of magnitude. Having said that however, sometimes equipment gets so outdated it is no longer good for much of anything at all. Nobody has much use for an XT or 286 anymore and they deserve to be recycled becuase aside from very limited uses, they are too old to be much good.
Boy, she got me good. Elana got me hook line and sinker! She really moved me.
Still the points she made were good and she told a good story.
Please stop playing with the light switch!
I provide support in a corporate environment where a percentage of our users have local administrator rights on their Win2K boxes. They have these rights for legitamate, valid business reasons and most of them are computer savy people. Yet they get infected with spyware on a regular basis. Often enough they tell me that it just happens. I have to believe in a certain percentage of cases, this is true. Other times, they are fooled in to installing it.
It interfers with some of their business software and God only knows what information this adware is pulling and using. I hate the stuff. I also hate to re-image the computers but have started to form the opinion that this may actually be the best course of action to take. Why do I feel this way? Because when I re-image the computer, it stayes spyware free a bit longer. I'm pretty sure that this is partly a social factor. When I tell the user that I had to tear it down and start over again, I think they are more careful.
Someone using pirates software probably shouldn't be eligible for any kind of support BUT the line isn't that clear.
If an unpatched copy of the O/S can cause problems to the community and a patch can fix it then the issue becomes murkier.
Perhaps the solution would be some sort of counter that requires a user to re-register their software every now and again based on their internet usage? If they are registered they can get patched, if they are not then they lose network operability (except to a registration and patch server).
I know this would be an inconvenient and unpopular idea but something like this would help assure honesty and properly patched and protected systems.
Ethanol as a motor fuel has been around for years and has been "The Next Big Thing"(tm) for most of that time. Ethanol as a gas additive, E85, pure ethanol, ethanol/fuel cell combinations. They are all great on paper and most would all probably work in commercial applications.
Ethanol is able to be manufatured from "locally" grown products in "local" plants by "local" employees. In many ways it is less polluting. There are many great things about it. Even big business sees the potential.
So why are the cards stacked against it? Because oil prices can go wherever they want to out of the well head. If the big E ever started getting a foot off the ground, the big oil producers would sacrifice profit to keep pumping. They would do this to assure that our addiction to oil wouldn't slack. Because the oil processing infrastructure already meets 100% of the demand for oil, these costs can't be beat by Ethanol processors (it costs a lot to build a plant). Consumers would see no need to change because oil can be kept cheaper than ethanol for as long as the producers want it to be.
Think of it like a Microsoft versus Netscape. The costs can be borne by the manufacturers for as long as it takes to beat the competition.
I no longer have a turntable, nor do I have an 8 track tape deck, I have cassette and CD now and I'd wager that most people are getting there. I do still have some albums, but they are memories and art more than media at this point.
I have one computer with a 3.5" floppy, none with 5.25 or 8 inch drives. I've never owned a holorath card reader or paper tape reader but I did have a cassette recorder hooked up to a Atari at one time.
Museums are a different thing. They are there for history, my home and my business aren't. I'm glad the turntable is gone, I actually chuckle a bit when I think about 8 track. I personally think beta was better than VHS but I went VHS and then I went DVD. I still have the VHS recorder but it is almost unused except for when I record a tape from my camcorder.
It ain't a digital vs analog argument. It is a progression of technology argument. Things change, and after a few years, they have changed enough so that it "hurts" to go go back.
Okay, maybe I am overstating this but think of the things that have come and gone in the past thirty tree years. In 1971, the standard product to deliver music was the LP or the 45. A lot of people used 8 tracks for their cars, and the cassette was popular for recorders but not too many people had stereo cassette recorders. Quadrophonic was the "in thing."
Most Audiophiles recommended the Dual 1249 manual turntable mounted on a granite block dampend by rubber. They also felt that tube amps were far superior to transistor amps because the sound was "wetter." Altec-Lansing speakers were the very best and you needed a Fisher reciever and a Marantz amp.
Computers were something huge, they did data with reel to reel magnetic tapes or punch cards or punched paper tape. Baudot was as common as ASCII. Teletypes and VDT's were the common input devices. The very few floppy drives out there were 8' units.
So thirty-three years later, getting the data from that day's generation of computers to today's computers would be difficult to nearly impossible. The "quality" of the data would be suspect not because of the retention quality of the media but because the data itself would be pretty weak in comparison to what we would collect today.
I have no doubt that in thirty three years we will look back on 2004's computing equipment in the same way. We are in the infancy stage still. Computing has a long ways to go. We'll probably be considered "BQ" (Before Quantum) by 2037!
Those CD's and DVD's will be antique. Something much smaller and faster with more storage will replace them.
The idea of "disposable cars" disturbs me. But when I think about it on an "outside of the box" level, I realize that we already have them. We have them because style and marketing make us want newer cars. Cars are status symbols that very much tell other people about us. We buy them to show others a piece of our personality. And we trade them in to get a car that tells people something about us that was missing in the previous model. Cars are a class system.
When I think a bit further about it, I'm thinking wouldn't it be neat to have a modular snap-together system of major assemblies that would fit in a chassis? That way you could buy whatever module you wanted and install it. You could have a Ford motor, A GM Tranny, an Allison rear end in a Honda body. When a module got to the point where it needed replacement you could shop for the features and price you wanted. Rebuilders could fix up old modules and sell them as replacements.
This concept is not without precident in the automotive industry. Checker did it for years and years, some big truck manufacturers do it to some extent today. Some buses have their motors and transmissions mounted on a pan that can be installed with a forklift, putting the bus with a blown engine or tranny back on the road in as little as forty five minutes.
It ain't gonna happen though. Manufacturers like things the way they are today.
I go to several large old car shows a year. I think I have hit on an idea that will put me in nice wheels at a reasonable cost. Several of these shows have areas set aside for cars that are for sale. Some of the really hot restored cars sell for tens of thousands of dollars but less hot fully restored cars are frequently inexpensive. You can get six cyl '67 Mustangs in fully-restored shape for five grand. This is a lot less than a new car and these cars are wonderful, unique, and would be up to the task of being a daily driver. I am seriously considering one of these machines insetad of a new car.
This is like the pot calling the kettle black. Clear channel is a large national company that "owns" most of the large markets in the U.S.
Before deregulation local radio stations were pretty much just that. Many were locally owned, had local programming staff and even those that were owned by outside interests functioned pretty much autonomosly.
In Minneapolis (and many other cities) Clear Channel has bought up most of the more popular stations and consolidated their operations. The different stations share sales staffs, engineering staffs, and administrative staff and in some cases even on-air personalities. Their programming decisions come down from the corporate level.
Not all of this is bad. There are improvments in effiency and reduced labor costs and other business related benefits. I have no problem with that.
What does bother me is that it makes it difficult for new artists to get airplay. When the programming decisions are handed down by such a select few people for the whole country, they only pick from a stable of artists that are already established or have the right "influence."
It is like the difference between going to Mc Donalds and going to a mom & pop locally owned cafe. You aren't gonna find any local specialties and while you can probably find something you like at McDonalds, you won't get anything really great either!
Lawyers and lawsuits are part of the cost of business in any but the smallest of companies. That isn't to say that Microsoft is doing it right, or ethically.
There is a difference between legal and ethical. I don't know if what they are doing is against the law but in my personal opinion, when they cost the competition so much money in legal fees that they can't do it any longer, they are no longer operating ethically.
Courts should wise up but I don't think they will at least until after November. Then it will either be more likely or less likely.
I'm late for work, I jump in my underpowered Toyota Pyris hybrid and rush off for work. Manage to get it up to 66MPH and hear the speed alarm at just about the same moment I see the printer shoot off a slip of paper. A speeding ticket. These tickets have evolved to a sort of tax. The automated equipment can't take your license and can't stand up to cross examination in court so, they don't count as points on your driver's license so you are emailed a ticket you have to pay. In essence, a speed tax. I owe another $108.00. Third time this month!
A couple miles down the roadway, My GPS beeps and tells me that I should take an alternate route, there is congestion ahead. I'm sick of this because everyone else gets the same message and everyone is told to take the same alternate route. I'll ignore the advice today. Chances are, enough people will leave my route so that it will open up.
I use my voice activated phone to call the office and tell them I'll be a bit late, traffic is heavy.
The road ahead is jammed, it is not moving at all. I swerver to the right to make an exit but my radar screams! I look over my shoulder and see a car a hundred feet behind me. The alarm doesn't think that is enough room. I hear someone say "Go ahead" and I make my lane change. This intercar communication is pretty cool but it seems like almost every night you hear about a case of road-rage where someone got really pissed about what they heard. Maybe it isn't great for people with anger managment problems. I say thanks and catch my exit in a nick of time.
Golden Arches show up on my LCD display and I push the icon to place my drive through order. I'll swing in and pick up my coffee and muffin and my bank card will be debited. It is pretty cool how they know so much about you but I've heard that there are some slammers out there who routinely debit people as they drive by. It hasnt happened to me yet though.
I arrive at work and turn my car over to the valet. He can drive it slowly without the key within one mile of where I dropped it off. It is a nice service to use in this part of the city, things are pretty congested around here. I'm not worried, I can tell where my car is from my desktop, I can also monitor the wife and the kids!
I don't know how we did it back in the first part of the century! Only problem is that I gotta work 13 hours a day to pay for all this convenience!
Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. It is good business practice for a company to pay attention to their competition and to lay plans to stay comeptitive. This is not illegal nor is it unethical. It is not anti-competitive behavior, it is sound business practice that is applied by the smallest mom-and-pop to the largest of the Fortune 500 companies.
I'm not saying that Microsoft is doing nothing wrong but they have the right and responsibility to compete. Every business does.