I also use a "Palm" device (Sony Clie). I have over 90 books stored on one memory stick, including a full dictionary and NIV Bible, and the chip is just over half full.
Whilst I can see how this could be useful in certain circumstances, most people don't need to carry around a full dictionary and Bible wherever they go. Also, they also only read one book at a time.
The advantages you think that the eBook format has over paper are advantages for you - but not necessarily for the majority of people.
I used to work on developing telemetry systems for a very large water provider. Every morning at 10am, the server would dial a number to upload/download a small amount of data.
However, it suddenly stopped working and it had turned out that during an upgrade the number had been changed slightly. The leading 9 (to dial for an outside line) had been removed. Therefore rather than hitting an outside line, it would dial 0 (getting the receptionist) and then try to negotiate with her before hanging up. Three minutes later, it would try again and again - until it had retried and failed 10 times.
The poor receptionist hadn't reported it to anyone and it was only after about a week did they find the problem. She'd put up with 10 calls a day for 5 days without saying a word. She thought it was some prank caller.
I've been struggling with the same issue as I prepare my resume. Do I write it in OpenOffice, impressing those who get it, and save to Office and PDF and give out all three versions?...or do I just "do the smart thing" and go ahead and write it OfficeXP and make sure that all and sundry think I'm "normal". There's nothing I want less than to start a job interview niggling over compatibility issues!
I write it up in Word and then do "save as 95".
I know this isn't the best way to do it ideallistically (not everyone runs Office, helping the MS monopoly etc.etc) but to be perfectly honest, I'd rather the job rather than be dumped by a HR department simply because I make their life difficult for them.
If your prepared to pass on a job because of your beliefs about Microsoft and propriatory software, then good for you. But be aware that myself and plenty of other people will happily bend over backwards and submit something in Word if it means we get your job.
How about 3 day battery life with 6 hours talk time?
Try the Nokia 6310i. It may be black and white but it's got Bluetooth, GPRS, HSCSD, Triband, Java and has impressive battery life (both idle and talking). Not to mention the easy to use UI and support for syncing to and from Outlook (tasks, calendar and, most importantly, contacts).
How about good, clear calls?
How about not magically losing signal when I walk in to another room?
If you're in Europe, this sounds like a network provider problem rather than a handset issue. If you aren't, then this is probably better answered by someone else.
Considering, however, that Motorola owned a big chunk of Symbian, why did they sell it off? Perhaps they have something big lined up that they would rather not put in the pool of available applications?
The official line is that they're evaluating different operating systems and don't want to tie themselves to one. Which would make sense considering they weren't really involved in Symbian much from the beginning so may not feel that attached to it.
It wouldn't surprise me when Microsoft get their phone software up to speed (it'll take a while) that they'll flirt with that too. All in the name of finding what increases their userbase the best (ie. what the consumer goes for).
Sure it does. I can think of 3 reasons off the top of my head: lower production cost
How would either of them be cheaper? Both Symbian and Linux are for low powered devices. Putting the code onto a chip would be the same cost.
Symbian 0 - Linux 0 (both equal, no points)
no licensing fees
True, however the reason behind the licencing fees is so that Symbian can recruit people and pay them to develop full time. If you were going to go with a Linux based solution you'd have to pay for the development yourself. Also, most of the companies who are using Symbian have shares in the company and agreed the licencing model themselves to directly ensure they don't get screwed. Symbian cannot do a Microsoft here and pull a bait and switch tactic since they are owned by the very same companies that they do business with.
Symbian 1 - Linux 0.5
competitive advantage
Symbian is already out there, already proven and already has applications written for it. Linux in the mobile arena isn't as proven, isn't already written with the mobile in mind (there would still be a lot of work required), requires that companies give away their competitive advantage (through the GPL licence) and has far less applications written for it.
Symbian 2 - Linux 0.5
I still see no reason to jump ship. Even if other companies jumped ship, it won't signal the death of Symbian.
It will be interesting to see how Nokia and others react.
They'll do nothing. Just because Motorola is selling their share of Symbian to Nokia and using Linux as the OS on their phone doesn't change a thing.
Linux isn't the be-all and end-all to everything. Symbian is an excellent operating system designed for mobile phones and Nokia et al have pumped loads of money into Symbian and will continue to do so in the future.
It makes absolutely no business sense whatsoever to jump ship from a proven O/S to one that is the geeks choice just because one company has done so.
As far as Nokia is concerned, as long as Motorola don't use Microsoft, they're happy. Nokia, like others, fear that a market with Microsoft as the dominating software provider will turn the phone market into something similar to the PC market (with hardware vendors getting tighter and tighter margins and Microsoft raking in all the money).
This is the same model all the Motorola PDA-phones have taken in the past. They've actually had them for around five years now, but the idiots in Marketing didn't think they'd sell outside of China.
Which would explain why I thought it was their first - given that I'm outside of China.
I don't know where you get your information from, but I was involved in the development of the A760. In reality, the core phone functionality is built on Qt and can be extended via Java.
I used to have one sitting on my desk. I have no doubt it can be extended by Java, but I was talking about people treating this like a mini Linux.
By the way, you can tell your old boss that I have my own boss to decide whether or not to fire me.
Well if you were involved in the development of the UI, then I'm sorry but you really should get your boss to give you, your team and your graphic artists some HCI and UI training.
Oh, I don't suppose you were involved with the V300 were you? The firmware I have (third release, first didn't have working MMS, Java or WAP - second ran like a dog) is winning the award for one of the most bug ridden pre-releases ever:o)
Since you tested it.
Does it have some shell terminal with ssh?
Not unless there is one written in Java. This is a consumer phone. It may have a Linux kernel, but doesn't contain anything extra out of the norm from other Motorola products.
In fact, if you didn't know it ran Linux - you wouldn't know from just using it.
Motorola's A760 is their first Linux phone. Although it has a Linux O/S, it runs Java and all the applications are written in Java. There is no way to hit the underlying O/S.
Plus, my old boss once told me that Motorola's sole purpose in life is to make crappy phones at a great loss. Anyone who has ever had the mis-fortune of using one of them will know that in order to beat the Nokia's of this world, they need to fire their entire UI team and replace it with people who actually know what they are doing.
Sure, it runs Linux and it's got that geeky appeal. But don't get carried away, it's still the same experience that all Motorola phones have.
Well, I can argue that they're hypocrites. After all, they were never satisfied when AOL said "it's our network, we can do what we want."
And I'd say they're not. They wanted AOL to open up the protocol so, by paying some sort of licence fee, other people could use it.
Which is exactly what they are allowing with MSN. AOL is perfectly entitled to purchase a licence and make their messenger interoperate with MSN... but not vice versa.
Unless of course you want to spend the rest of your life limiting your hardware purchases to what works with Linux.
Personally I'd rather pick the best specced bit of hardware (say graphics card) for my needs, puchase it and take it home knowing full well that it'll have all the drivers on the CD and be supported if you have to phone up with a problem.
Not something that will happen if Linux remains in the niche market.
I see no evidence of that in someone who is willing to put themselves at risk and put up with constant cycles of virus infections for years, when a free and secure alternative is available, and an afternoon's effort is all it takes to do something about it.
I've been using Windows ever since 95 and I can tell you now that is does not take "an afternoon's effort" to get to the same level of understanding about Linux than it does with Windows.
Most people don't give a flying toss about their operating system as long as they are comfortable using it and are the most productive. They get that with windows because that what they have used for years. They get that with windows because everyone else around them has windows so they can get the software or support they need. They get that with windows because they know that whatever they buy will just work.
To get a non-IT person (or sometimes even an IT person) to move away from something they are the most comfortable and most productive with is simply not going to happen unless you provide adequate backup (such as a dual boot).
Even then, most people at university would far rather go out, drink, socialise, play sport, date and whatever else than wrestle with a new operating system.
Using windows has nothing to do with being open minded, it depends on where your priorities are - and most people's priorities do not revolve around computers.
They don't even need a table. If the domain in the From address doesn't match any of the Received headers, just silently bin the thing. This would also handle heuristic scans which pick up new viruses that aren't in the scanner's database yet.
Is there any easy way to do this via procmail? It would seem to be a great thing to tell people who really do have a virus that they have one, whilst not spamming the hell out of people who had their email address used by a virus on someone elses machine.
I did go to college (we call it university) and I understand this
I'm sure you did (and I did too), but I think the parent was referring to Twitter - who, when you read his past postings, comes more across as a 14 year old rabid Linux fanboy devoid of rational thought at many times.
However asking every student to not use Windows is asking for trouble.
There are a substantial proportion of the people out there in the world that can use Windows, don't want to use anything else, have invested the money in Windows (well, maybe a few) and see no reason to move off an operating system that is used by 90% of the population.
Those that you do get to convert, will plague the helpdesk for years to come and probably resent you from forcing a change on them that they didn't want and don't see the need of.
You missed out replying to his comment about "PDF is basically write-only (please don't mention KWord's poor excuse for a PDF importer)".
Not that I blame you. Your argument is pretty good, but he does raise a valid point. Plain text is too simplistic, PDF is too much write-only - the only thing that realistically sits in the middle at the moment is Word.
Unless you can think of another file format that copes with tables, images, headers, footers, embedded documents, version control and all the other things that most of us use on a regular basis.
The people actually causing the pollution are those that blindly open attachments without understanding what they are.
Had you not used the words "Microsoft pollution" and used say, "the problems that Microsoft caused in trying to make PC's easy to use" then you'd have come across less like a raging anti-MS zealot and I'd have given you a mod point.
However, Slashdot is full of people who blindly mod up anti-MS posts however incorrect, so you can count on them for your +5.
Slashdot Mirror
Is there any alternative which fits in nicely with my desktop and has similar functionality to nedit?
Whilst I can see how this could be useful in certain circumstances, most people don't need to carry around a full dictionary and Bible wherever they go. Also, they also only read one book at a time.
The advantages you think that the eBook format has over paper are advantages for you - but not necessarily for the majority of people.
However, it suddenly stopped working and it had turned out that during an upgrade the number had been changed slightly. The leading 9 (to dial for an outside line) had been removed. Therefore rather than hitting an outside line, it would dial 0 (getting the receptionist) and then try to negotiate with her before hanging up. Three minutes later, it would try again and again - until it had retried and failed 10 times.
The poor receptionist hadn't reported it to anyone and it was only after about a week did they find the problem. She'd put up with 10 calls a day for 5 days without saying a word. She thought it was some prank caller.
Before you know it, it won't just be you deciding what you want to record, but the PVR dictating what you can and can't.
Are you really absolutely positivily 100% without-a-doubt sure you did?
It's not that I don't believe you, but that would imply that the Slashdot editors did some rudimentary spell checking :o)
I write it up in Word and then do "save as 95".
I know this isn't the best way to do it ideallistically (not everyone runs Office, helping the MS monopoly etc.etc) but to be perfectly honest, I'd rather the job rather than be dumped by a HR department simply because I make their life difficult for them.
If your prepared to pass on a job because of your beliefs about Microsoft and propriatory software, then good for you. But be aware that myself and plenty of other people will happily bend over backwards and submit something in Word if it means we get your job.
Try the Nokia 6310i. It may be black and white but it's got Bluetooth, GPRS, HSCSD, Triband, Java and has impressive battery life (both idle and talking). Not to mention the easy to use UI and support for syncing to and from Outlook (tasks, calendar and, most importantly, contacts).
How about good, clear calls?
How about not magically losing signal when I walk in to another room?
If you're in Europe, this sounds like a network provider problem rather than a handset issue. If you aren't, then this is probably better answered by someone else.
The official line is that they're evaluating different operating systems and don't want to tie themselves to one. Which would make sense considering they weren't really involved in Symbian much from the beginning so may not feel that attached to it.
It wouldn't surprise me when Microsoft get their phone software up to speed (it'll take a while) that they'll flirt with that too. All in the name of finding what increases their userbase the best (ie. what the consumer goes for).
Or, as you rightly said, they have something big.
How would either of them be cheaper? Both Symbian and Linux are for low powered devices. Putting the code onto a chip would be the same cost.
Symbian 0 - Linux 0 (both equal, no points)
no licensing fees
True, however the reason behind the licencing fees is so that Symbian can recruit people and pay them to develop full time. If you were going to go with a Linux based solution you'd have to pay for the development yourself. Also, most of the companies who are using Symbian have shares in the company and agreed the licencing model themselves to directly ensure they don't get screwed. Symbian cannot do a Microsoft here and pull a bait and switch tactic since they are owned by the very same companies that they do business with.
Symbian 1 - Linux 0.5
competitive advantage
Symbian is already out there, already proven and already has applications written for it. Linux in the mobile arena isn't as proven, isn't already written with the mobile in mind (there would still be a lot of work required), requires that companies give away their competitive advantage (through the GPL licence) and has far less applications written for it.
Symbian 2 - Linux 0.5
I still see no reason to jump ship. Even if other companies jumped ship, it won't signal the death of Symbian.
They'll do nothing. Just because Motorola is selling their share of Symbian to Nokia and using Linux as the OS on their phone doesn't change a thing.
Linux isn't the be-all and end-all to everything. Symbian is an excellent operating system designed for mobile phones and Nokia et al have pumped loads of money into Symbian and will continue to do so in the future.
It makes absolutely no business sense whatsoever to jump ship from a proven O/S to one that is the geeks choice just because one company has done so.
As far as Nokia is concerned, as long as Motorola don't use Microsoft, they're happy. Nokia, like others, fear that a market with Microsoft as the dominating software provider will turn the phone market into something similar to the PC market (with hardware vendors getting tighter and tighter margins and Microsoft raking in all the money).
Which would explain why I thought it was their first - given that I'm outside of China.
Thanks for the correction.
I used to have one sitting on my desk. I have no doubt it can be extended by Java, but I was talking about people treating this like a mini Linux.
By the way, you can tell your old boss that I have my own boss to decide whether or not to fire me.
Well if you were involved in the development of the UI, then I'm sorry but you really should get your boss to give you, your team and your graphic artists some HCI and UI training.
Oh, I don't suppose you were involved with the V300 were you? The firmware I have (third release, first didn't have working MMS, Java or WAP - second ran like a dog) is winning the award for one of the most bug ridden pre-releases ever :o)
Does it have some shell terminal with ssh?
Not unless there is one written in Java. This is a consumer phone. It may have a Linux kernel, but doesn't contain anything extra out of the norm from other Motorola products.
In fact, if you didn't know it ran Linux - you wouldn't know from just using it.
Plus, my old boss once told me that Motorola's sole purpose in life is to make crappy phones at a great loss. Anyone who has ever had the mis-fortune of using one of them will know that in order to beat the Nokia's of this world, they need to fire their entire UI team and replace it with people who actually know what they are doing.
Sure, it runs Linux and it's got that geeky appeal. But don't get carried away, it's still the same experience that all Motorola phones have.
And I'd say they're not. They wanted AOL to open up the protocol so, by paying some sort of licence fee, other people could use it.
Which is exactly what they are allowing with MSN. AOL is perfectly entitled to purchase a licence and make their messenger interoperate with MSN ... but not vice versa.
I don't care for having to boot up a laptop/PC every time I want to watch a DivX.
Does anyone know of such a beast? Even more so, can you get it in the UK?
Yes we do.
Unless of course you want to spend the rest of your life limiting your hardware purchases to what works with Linux.
Personally I'd rather pick the best specced bit of hardware (say graphics card) for my needs, puchase it and take it home knowing full well that it'll have all the drivers on the CD and be supported if you have to phone up with a problem.
Not something that will happen if Linux remains in the niche market.
I have a scary thought of my Grandmother yelling at me, "get away from her ... you bitch!"
I've been using Windows ever since 95 and I can tell you now that is does not take "an afternoon's effort" to get to the same level of understanding about Linux than it does with Windows.
Most people don't give a flying toss about their operating system as long as they are comfortable using it and are the most productive. They get that with windows because that what they have used for years. They get that with windows because everyone else around them has windows so they can get the software or support they need. They get that with windows because they know that whatever they buy will just work.
To get a non-IT person (or sometimes even an IT person) to move away from something they are the most comfortable and most productive with is simply not going to happen unless you provide adequate backup (such as a dual boot).
Even then, most people at university would far rather go out, drink, socialise, play sport, date and whatever else than wrestle with a new operating system.
Using windows has nothing to do with being open minded, it depends on where your priorities are - and most people's priorities do not revolve around computers.
Is there any easy way to do this via procmail? It would seem to be a great thing to tell people who really do have a virus that they have one, whilst not spamming the hell out of people who had their email address used by a virus on someone elses machine.
I'm sure you did (and I did too), but I think the parent was referring to Twitter - who, when you read his past postings, comes more across as a 14 year old rabid Linux fanboy devoid of rational thought at many times.
However asking every student to not use Windows is asking for trouble.
There are a substantial proportion of the people out there in the world that can use Windows, don't want to use anything else, have invested the money in Windows (well, maybe a few) and see no reason to move off an operating system that is used by 90% of the population.
Those that you do get to convert, will plague the helpdesk for years to come and probably resent you from forcing a change on them that they didn't want and don't see the need of.
That is not what going to uni is all about.
I'm the same too. But if I put it any higher, i end up with loads of spam passing the spamassassin tests (because they rank around the 3.5 - 4.5).
Cheers for the link. Will check it out.
I'm amazed you (and most others) have it so high. For me, anything over 3 gets junked and, if it was any higher, i'd get tonnes of spam in my index.
Neat. Excuse my ignorance but would you be so kind so show me how would I go about setting that up?
Thanks.
Not that I blame you. Your argument is pretty good, but he does raise a valid point. Plain text is too simplistic, PDF is too much write-only - the only thing that realistically sits in the middle at the moment is Word.
Unless you can think of another file format that copes with tables, images, headers, footers, embedded documents, version control and all the other things that most of us use on a regular basis.
The people actually causing the pollution are those that blindly open attachments without understanding what they are.
Had you not used the words "Microsoft pollution" and used say, "the problems that Microsoft caused in trying to make PC's easy to use" then you'd have come across less like a raging anti-MS zealot and I'd have given you a mod point.
However, Slashdot is full of people who blindly mod up anti-MS posts however incorrect, so you can count on them for your +5.