I'll put a question to the community...do people think that it might be worth re-naming Debian in some markets (like campus bookstores, for instance) to FreeDebian?
Ogg/Vorbis. Need I say more? Sounds "foreign", where "wav" files sound friendly, and its easy to guess what it stands for. This is like the Linux pronouncing debates 3 or 4 years ago (Lie-nux vs. LEE-nux vs Lin-ux) In the end, it doesn't matter because new users are going to pronounce it how it looks.
One thing that OSS developers can learn from us "evil persons in the marketing world" is that a name DOES matter (Shakespeare be damned) and it is the name that creates the first impression. This is the whole reason Lindows fought for its right to use the name, because it tells what it is by the nature of the name.
As Free Software begins to gain more and more acceptance, I think you will be seeing less obscure names, or other companies will simply take GPL software and rename it to a more reasonable term for public acceptance. This is sure to piss off more than a few authors, but otherwise, the programs won't get acceptance.
PERL: Good name, easy to say, means something. SPAMASSASSIN: Ditto. The best possible name. GNOME: Bad name. A little evil dude, I dont want him in my computer, or my underwear drawer.
OUTLOOK: Decent name, positive ring to it. FRONTPAGE: Good name, means what it is OFFICE: Good name, obviously.
While I find recursive acronyms amusing, most people find them confusing, or more likely, they don't know what it is, even after you explain it. Its been a few years, but it confused me at first, and probably all of us. We need to be more reasonable if we want people to accept OSS on the desktop.
Part of the problem is many authors don't care if the masses use their programs, and prefer it to be a leet few, which is why IBM et al will just repackage the programs with shiney new names and piss them off. Don't worry, we will be talking about "how wrong" it is to do this in a year or two.
I still would have given you a point if I had it. Been getting mod points about once every two weeks for the last few months anyway. Whats up with that?
I see 739. but then again, how many results you see will depend on your settings for google: multiple languages or just english, for instance...but you knew that, right?
He probably is rebooting more frequently than he needs to. I run a gig and half of ram on my dual p3/1000 and it uses swap after about a week. Then it will flush out, use swap, etc. I never actually use half the ram, its just buffer/cache, but it does use the swap. Basically, Im guessing his uptime isn't long enough to cache that much data. (mine is about 100 days right now, a little under average.)
This being slashdot and all, I'm surprised nobody has asked yet: What's wrong with polygamy? As long as everyone's a consenting adult, what's the problem?
Whats wrong with polygamy? The same thing that is wrong with prostitution and drug use: Nothing. It just offers the government yet another method to control individuals by making activies illegal based upon the morality of a few, rather than because of any ill effects it has on society as a whole. I am still of the belief that if an activity does not adversely affect others, then the government has no interest regulating it. (ie: smoking a joint hurts no one, driving stoned does) I can't see the harm to the community that polygamy causes.
Haven't eating horse, myself. Worked with them once, and yea they are not the smartest, but something about eating horse doesn't sound right. I have eaten squirrel, rabbit, deer, turtle, frog, among others, but passed on horse, armadilla, possum, and housepets. Just a cultural thing I guess.
Why not postmaster@[offending IP ADDRESS] (or a nslookup of that IP address) or simular role accounts.
Because lots of smaller domains do not use that address, myself included. Ironically, we were getting lots of spam to that address, and since I would only check it once a week or so, didn't like filtering through 2000+ emails.
Also, the registars do have their contact information. I doubt if most registars would not honor a FTC "request" (if they know what's good for them).
Doesn't work that way. Not only are many domains registered under false info, but you can't bully registrars, especially since the majority of them are NOT in the US. The feds have no authority to bully a registrar in Brazil, for example.
ISPs would stand in line to give up contact information for Open Relays on their network, as they are a network problem.
There also exists the idea that you don't just give up contact info for a client if you are an ISP, if they are not doing anything illegal AND there is no warrant. This is not cool.
It appears to me that the feds have the right idea, although I don't think its going to work on most open relays. Its a good effort to judge the response. But they only have authority in the US, not the world.
Bullying ISPs and domain owners is NOT the answer. Most don't know they have open relays, so its a matter of information, education, and getting them to quit using insecure OSs, which will include most older versions of both Windows AND Linux. (RH 6.x back had open relays standard).
It would be nice if we could have some kind of international standards that all countries would agree to, and eventually we will. But not soon.
That sounds about right. Redhat has been driving me crazy for years. I started with 4.x, but didn't get serious about using Linux until 6.1, and every change in version has brought with it very different file organization, etc. Its frustrating when all your custom stuff has to be reworked if you upgrade, since paths, etc. dont match up.
I was considering swapping over to BSD, which has a more stable structure, but I am about to install Ensim to manage some of the domains to reduce the maintenance, and now it only works on Fedora 1. (Its mainly the primary mail server and web server for our BS domains). I guess I will be stuck with Fedora 1, since 2 will SURELY be very incompatible with 1, as usual.
This has been a major problem for me, and has slowed down migration to Linux. Even Windows has a better migration path. Its not even about money, I was paying for RHN services on several of our boxes, which is of course cancelled now. If someone would come out with a stable, supported for pay, consistant distro, I would be happy to speed up the migration. I had been hoping for SuSe, but its too soon to tell now that Novell has purchased them.
I know I can't be the only person who just wants an easy to use Linux, and is willing to pay $50 to $60 a year per box for patches and updates, plus higher fees for phone and server support. I had THOUGHT RedHat was going to be it, but that was back in version 8 (which only lasted 6 months). Argh.
1. Static electricity is a potential problem. However, static electricity is caused by friction between two non-conductive surfaces. Most servers I've worked with have unpainted chassis
Every tower server I own is painted, and the point is when you do upgrades or maintenance you risk the problem of static. Any fool knows you don't carpet a server room, this isn't even a point worth discussing. Plus, I stated flatly, its a minor but real point.
the carpet will lead to premature failure, which is certainly possible, it would have done so already. The original post was talking about being shown this system installed and running, not about having it done recently.
Um, like I said, that is why the IT guy installed them upside down. If it vented at the bottom and they were placed right side up, they would already be dead.
The heat produced by a system does not increase over age
Um, wrong. If you don't do regular maintenance (which obviously wasn't getting done) then yes, it WILL get hotter over time. Common sense if think about it. Air vents get clogged. Fans get weighed down when coated with dust. Everything gets coated with dust, which acts as an insulator. My guess is a server room that is actually a janitors closet didn't have filtered air.
I'm sorry if I came across as trollish, but there seems to be an obsession these days with following the rules for everything and making it pretty.
Not my problem, I have an ugly ass server room, full of racks and empty boxes and steel shelving full of towers, no carpet, etc. I don't care about pretty, but common sense says you don't do things that will compromise the systems. Hard floors, cold as hell, nothing to cause static, basic filtered air.
Yea, no big deal, until you get random errors and crashes, or worse yet, intermittant data corruption that you can't track down. If you are talking about a game server for your buds, well, fine. But if you are talking about a real server then these simple "rules" are common sense. Hate to be so short, but you didn't read the post you replied to very well.
You miss the point. He wasn't being an ass to his employees, more than likely. I use memos like this as well, as a way to use humor to remind people that they should already know this. Its a very mild scolding at worst.
I wrote one two days ago to the effect that I wanted all employees to start using their home computers for all work email. AV software was optional, but at their expense. Using the printer required filling out a special form with 48 hours notice.... (it was funnier in the memo). The point is taken that we have a personal use of business email problem. Rather than get mad about it, I used humor to introduce the reverse concept, that I dont expect them to work from their home computer, so they shouldnt spend our resources on so much personal stuff. Small office, a gentle nudge, a good laugh was had by all, etc. but the point was made and we are changing some stuff to accomodate their needs, but not with the business email domain. (which using it implies consent to the content, after all).
Now, if he is a PHB sending this to 500 employees, then yea, that probably not smart. But if everyone knows him, then they would take it in the right vein.
On a more positive note, at least it was diet Coke. Sugared colas suck to clean up when they 'splode.
That's the dumbest moment in advertising? I thought that commercial was hilarious!!
How funny, meaningful, informative, or insightful a commercial is, is pretty much meaningless by itself. We can all recall many very funny or interesting commercials, but can't remember the product. Banks are famous for this. I could give other examples, but you wouldn't remember the commercial if I named the product;) hense the problem.
The fact that you remember the product, liked the commercial, and would possibly consider the product because of it, is all that matters. The first time I saw that commercial (they show a tamer version before 10pm here) I was a bit shocked, but amused, which is also a good thing for a commercial.
So, coming from someone who has been in marketing for 20 years (me) I would agree that this is a good campaign for their target audience (men 15-45). Bad thing is you are compelled to look each time to see if he is really drinking that pooch's milk, yuck.
Hate to pop in, but you guys dont seem to have used servers before. It DOES matter to put a server on carpet, for a few reasons.
1. Static electricity is a potential problem. You should have have carpet in a server room, or a workbench area. But this is a minor point.
2. Heat. This is a real problem. Many servers (including many of my older IBM servers) have planer boards in the bottom of the cases. For those of you in Rio Linda, the planer board is where the cpu and drm (voltage regulator) is mounted. This is the hottest portion of the server case by a long shot. These system exhaust the hot air at the bottom back and/or bottom of the base. This is why they have pedestals, to keep the bottom of the case raised slightly to aid airflow
Funny thing, if you HAVE to put this type of server flat on carpet, the smartest thing you can do is to put them upside down, so the tech that installed them was probably doing the best with what he had. No components inside the computer cares if it is upside down. Hard drives and fans work just fine upside down, and most fans work fine at 90 degrees as well. (old systems used to mount HDs this way, I don't personally recommend it for a 15k drive)
If you have any doubts as to what is stated herein, go take any old computer, lie it directly on the carpet with the normally hottest surface down (usually top or bottom, depending on airflow configuration) and let it lie there a few hours. Lift and feel. The carpet acts as an insulator, and WILL lead to premature failure. Remember, the average server has been running continuously for a couple years, not just a couple hours.
its already bad enough on the command line with frikin "redhat-*" everything, or "gnome-*" everyting. I spend most of my time in x at a bash prompt as it is, and always trying to remember enough damn prefixes.
[pharmboy@gemini pharmboy]#startx -bash: startx: command not found
I keep preaching that the best way to turn people OFF of GPL is to preach it (Recursive preaching, I think....). Most people just want software to DO stuff, not make political statments.
Fortunately, the majority of souls who are consumed by the urge to place GNU tags on terms we all already KNOW are GNU are not the actual GNU/GPL programmers that are making significant contributions. I can picture a few individuals who can't write a bash script actually trolling through/. just looking for ways to correct people by adding GNU to their posts. Rather sad.
Yes, there are some risks, just like with any OS. But if you backup your personal files, you can restore them if you are hit. This is still a problem, but at least you would have an OS to restore from.
Its only where you want to keep one user from harming another user's files that permissions really shine. Yes, file permissions may stop malicious software from easily poisoning the base system, but they do nothing to protect the actual user. For that, all users (Windows or Linux) must rely on safe practices (especially backups).
And the underlying OS, which is a bit more than trivial if you have to re-install. Windows, BY DESIGN, can not be backed up correctly. They want you to reinstall the OS, reup the updates, reinstall the apps, reupdate the AV, then restore the datafiles from backups. With Linux, its easy to have a cron job to backup all your files everyday, with the resulting tarball owned by root. Restoring from a catostrophic deleting would take a whopping 3 minutes as root (tar -xzf filename.tgz assuming you tarred with the full pathname). Its easy enough to write a 10 line script that is run daily with cron that will freshen the backup file, or maintain 7 days worth of backup files. Just as easy to make a "restore" script. Last time I reinstalled Windows on my home computer, it took over 20 hours to install the OS, Photoshop, AV, the other 50 programs I run, and restore the datafiles from backup. Last restore I did on Linux took a few minutes. A restore from a FULL BACKUP, using DUMP/RESTORE from tape, removeable drive, etc. might take an hour. Maybe.
Besides, in the home setting, the user *is* the admin and can easily override sanity to install the cool (spyware) rpm's he just found. Just like how Windows users install so much spyware.
But with Linux, it will at least PROMPT you for a password, which helps to tell you that something is wrong. With Windows, it doesn't need to prompt you, so you never even get a clue that you are being installed with spywear/adware/trojans. In any Linux distro,/bin,/usr/bin,/usr/local/bin are all owned by root and are r-x (no write permission). You CAN install spywear to/home/username/bin but that would only infect that one user, and is easier to detect.
Like I said before, Windows IS easier to use, but Linux is easier to protect and maintain. I am saying this to you as I am currently reformatting a dual cpu box I had used as a backup dns/special applications server running Win2k, and now running Linux on it. Replacing the apps is a pain in the ass, but so was trying to manage a light duty server with no shell that wanted to pop up windows all the time, that no one saw since it has no monitor/keyboard/mouse. (oh yea, windows loves having no mouse....)
Ok... When did SCO actauly get developers? I thought the whole company was a bunch of lawyers?Honestly, wtf is 4,000 developers been doing this whole time if they arn't writing code.
I think they were referring to the OSS programmers writing actual kernel code, which SCO thinks it owns now;) They just see them as free employees, which you have to admit is cheaper than outsourcing to India.
Because of the economics. Until it is too costly (and not just in monetary costs), these things will continue to plague us.
I would disagree with the virus' plagueing us on Linux the way they do in Windows. Yes, there will be, and currently ARE, viruses/trojans/exploits that affect Linux, but the security structure makes a huge difference. Everyone talks about how "Linux" has the same number of exploits as Windows, but that is very misleading.
I use windows on the desktop and linux on the server and a few desktops, the basis for my comparison. When you hear about a "Linux exploit" its seldom the actual OS, and the majority have no effect on the majority of systems. If BIND has a buffer overflow, its called a "Linux exploit" even tho isc.org has no affiliation with Linus, BIND runs on virtually any unix system (even sco) and most Linux boxes don't run it. The same is true with most other "exploits" on linux. This is not true with Windows exploits, which affect virtually every Windows box with the same version.
No OS will ever be totally secure, but there is such a fundamental difference in the two that you really can't compare the two. Most everything is run at maximum priveleges in Windows, where in Linux, everything is run as an unpriveleged user. Generally, you only have ONE root/administrator in Linux, where you can have multiple in Windows. In Windows, some general applications require you have root/admin access to run them, where this is not the case for Linux (although Lindows et al are not respective of this policy).
I'm no Linux zealot, and personally think Windows is much easier to use on the desktop right now, but the vulnerability of any *nix will never be as bad as Windows unless you try to make it that bad.
As to spywear and adware, there is and will always be programs to prevent/get rid of those on both platforms, and the future for these products only look better in the future. Oh, and because Linux is permissions based, its a bit easier to control these, by design, anyway.
As to the $450 word processor, I use Open Office on Windows at work, where I convert our product manuals to PDF for distribution online (among other things), something I can't do with that $450 MS product.
According to FreeDOS, its a 3.3 clone. Not my opinion, but their goal. It may have a few extra features not found in 3.3, but its a well stated goal by the actual authors.
I don't mean to rag when I call it mediocre, its just, well, it is. I have recently installed it on a fresh 1.6gb drive on my test computer (all HD are in trays, swap in and out, 12 different OSs) and it did not want to run alot of programs. I also have a windows 3.1/dos 6.22 drive to compare with.
You are correct that you have to compensate with emm386 to get it to work right, if you can at all. This is the primary reason I call it mediocre. It does fine with 8 bit stuff, but barfs on lots of 16bit stuff that needs upper memory. I mean, its a good attempt, but after testing it, I would not put it in production where I needed DOS. This is what I was testing it for. Its just not ready for prime time, and unfortunately, even DOS 6.22 is well past its prime.
Dell doesn't pay per single computer shipped. The reason they're shipping these PCs with FreeDos is exactly because their volume license with Microsoft doesn't allow for PCs to be shipped without OS.
You still pay more, because you pay the same if it has windows or if it doesn't, so you are technically getting less for the same price.
Also, why aren't they shipping and supporting linux,
They have for years, but only on servers, starting with RH 7.x
About 18 months ago, I went ahead and did the Dell thing for Mom, with 2.0 celeron, 20gb, 256mb, xphome, and got her onto aol for 6 months, then cable modem. Wasn't too bad, about $700 shipping and all, with a 17" monitor. Was xmas present 2002. At the time I didn't want to take "the risk" of sending her a Linux box, but if I was sending it now, would probably do the walmart box with Fedora or RH9 installed. Especially because after buying monitors, I could now get 2 computers for the same price.
Oh, I also have bought 3 of the via 1000mhz boxes (CR-53) which are not bad, but not as good a deal. no ram, no hd, no cd, no floppy, but a really small format for around $153 for case/mb/cpu. Couldn't find them the next time I needed boxes, so I bought the Walmart boxes, which turned out to be a better deal.
I was thinking the exact same thing. I have been getting distro happy the last few months, trying several, and I have personally burned and given out several Knoppix CDs, including mailing them to relatives. Its the best for trying Linux, without having to install anything. I have used it a more than a few times to recover data, check disks, copy data, etc. from win9x disks. Wanting to find out how to modify and reburn it, to run it more in 'expert' mode rather than desktop mode, but loving the completeness of it.
I just downloaded featherlinux (70mb i think) to test it. Its supposed to be the best lightweight utility bootable CD version.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll put a question to the community...do people think that it might be worth re-naming Debian in some markets (like campus bookstores, for instance) to FreeDebian?
Ogg/Vorbis. Need I say more? Sounds "foreign", where "wav" files sound friendly, and its easy to guess what it stands for. This is like the Linux pronouncing debates 3 or 4 years ago (Lie-nux vs. LEE-nux vs Lin-ux) In the end, it doesn't matter because new users are going to pronounce it how it looks.
One thing that OSS developers can learn from us "evil persons in the marketing world" is that a name DOES matter (Shakespeare be damned) and it is the name that creates the first impression. This is the whole reason Lindows fought for its right to use the name, because it tells what it is by the nature of the name.
As Free Software begins to gain more and more acceptance, I think you will be seeing less obscure names, or other companies will simply take GPL software and rename it to a more reasonable term for public acceptance. This is sure to piss off more than a few authors, but otherwise, the programs won't get acceptance.
PERL: Good name, easy to say, means something.
SPAMASSASSIN: Ditto. The best possible name.
GNOME: Bad name. A little evil dude, I dont want him in my computer, or my underwear drawer.
OUTLOOK: Decent name, positive ring to it.
FRONTPAGE: Good name, means what it is
OFFICE: Good name, obviously.
While I find recursive acronyms amusing, most people find them confusing, or more likely, they don't know what it is, even after you explain it. Its been a few years, but it confused me at first, and probably all of us. We need to be more reasonable if we want people to accept OSS on the desktop.
Part of the problem is many authors don't care if the masses use their programs, and prefer it to be a leet few, which is why IBM et al will just repackage the programs with shiney new names and piss them off. Don't worry, we will be talking about "how wrong" it is to do this in a year or two.
What a wandering rant.
I still would have given you a point if I had it. Been getting mod points about once every two weeks for the last few months anyway. Whats up with that?
I see 739. but then again, how many results you see will depend on your settings for google: multiple languages or just english, for instance...but you knew that, right?
He probably is rebooting more frequently than he needs to. I run a gig and half of ram on my dual p3/1000 and it uses swap after about a week. Then it will flush out, use swap, etc. I never actually use half the ram, its just buffer/cache, but it does use the swap. Basically, Im guessing his uptime isn't long enough to cache that much data. (mine is about 100 days right now, a little under average.)
This being slashdot and all, I'm surprised nobody has asked yet: What's wrong with polygamy? As long as everyone's a consenting adult, what's the problem?
Whats wrong with polygamy? The same thing that is wrong with prostitution and drug use: Nothing. It just offers the government yet another method to control individuals by making activies illegal based upon the morality of a few, rather than because of any ill effects it has on society as a whole. I am still of the belief that if an activity does not adversely affect others, then the government has no interest regulating it. (ie: smoking a joint hurts no one, driving stoned does) I can't see the harm to the community that polygamy causes.
Haven't eating horse, myself. Worked with them once, and yea they are not the smartest, but something about eating horse doesn't sound right. I have eaten squirrel, rabbit, deer, turtle, frog, among others, but passed on horse, armadilla, possum, and housepets. Just a cultural thing I guess.
Just to ruin your lunch: pigs are smarter than dogs. Still want that BLT? ;)
Personally, I don't worry about intellegence of the critters I eat. Everyone knows that if given a chance, a cow will kill and eat you...
Why not postmaster@[offending IP ADDRESS] (or a nslookup of that IP address) or simular role accounts.
Because lots of smaller domains do not use that address, myself included. Ironically, we were getting lots of spam to that address, and since I would only check it once a week or so, didn't like filtering through 2000+ emails.
Also, the registars do have their contact information. I doubt if most registars would not honor a FTC "request" (if they know what's good for them).
Doesn't work that way. Not only are many domains registered under false info, but you can't bully registrars, especially since the majority of them are NOT in the US. The feds have no authority to bully a registrar in Brazil, for example.
ISPs would stand in line to give up contact information for Open Relays on their network, as they are a network problem.
There also exists the idea that you don't just give up contact info for a client if you are an ISP, if they are not doing anything illegal AND there is no warrant. This is not cool.
It appears to me that the feds have the right idea, although I don't think its going to work on most open relays. Its a good effort to judge the response. But they only have authority in the US, not the world.
Bullying ISPs and domain owners is NOT the answer. Most don't know they have open relays, so its a matter of information, education, and getting them to quit using insecure OSs, which will include most older versions of both Windows AND Linux. (RH 6.x back had open relays standard).
It would be nice if we could have some kind of international standards that all countries would agree to, and eventually we will. But not soon.
That sounds about right. Redhat has been driving me crazy for years. I started with 4.x, but didn't get serious about using Linux until 6.1, and every change in version has brought with it very different file organization, etc. Its frustrating when all your custom stuff has to be reworked if you upgrade, since paths, etc. dont match up.
I was considering swapping over to BSD, which has a more stable structure, but I am about to install Ensim to manage some of the domains to reduce the maintenance, and now it only works on Fedora 1. (Its mainly the primary mail server and web server for our BS domains). I guess I will be stuck with Fedora 1, since 2 will SURELY be very incompatible with 1, as usual.
This has been a major problem for me, and has slowed down migration to Linux. Even Windows has a better migration path. Its not even about money, I was paying for RHN services on several of our boxes, which is of course cancelled now. If someone would come out with a stable, supported for pay, consistant distro, I would be happy to speed up the migration. I had been hoping for SuSe, but its too soon to tell now that Novell has purchased them.
I know I can't be the only person who just wants an easy to use Linux, and is willing to pay $50 to $60 a year per box for patches and updates, plus higher fees for phone and server support. I had THOUGHT RedHat was going to be it, but that was back in version 8 (which only lasted 6 months). Argh.
Well, except the CD-ROM drive...
:)
or mount it upside down
But seriously, I almost never ever use the cdrom on a server except to install the original OS. Too slow and clunky to share files on a server cd.
1. Static electricity is a potential problem. However, static electricity is caused by friction between two non-conductive surfaces. Most servers I've worked with have unpainted chassis
Every tower server I own is painted, and the point is when you do upgrades or maintenance you risk the problem of static. Any fool knows you don't carpet a server room, this isn't even a point worth discussing. Plus, I stated flatly, its a minor but real point.
the carpet will lead to premature failure, which is certainly possible, it would have done so already. The original post was talking about being shown this system installed and running, not about having it done recently.
Um, like I said, that is why the IT guy installed them upside down. If it vented at the bottom and they were placed right side up, they would already be dead.
The heat produced by a system does not increase over age
Um, wrong. If you don't do regular maintenance (which obviously wasn't getting done) then yes, it WILL get hotter over time. Common sense if think about it. Air vents get clogged. Fans get weighed down when coated with dust. Everything gets coated with dust, which acts as an insulator. My guess is a server room that is actually a janitors closet didn't have filtered air.
I'm sorry if I came across as trollish, but there seems to be an obsession these days with following the rules for everything and making it pretty.
Not my problem, I have an ugly ass server room, full of racks and empty boxes and steel shelving full of towers, no carpet, etc. I don't care about pretty, but common sense says you don't do things that will compromise the systems. Hard floors, cold as hell, nothing to cause static, basic filtered air.
Yea, no big deal, until you get random errors and crashes, or worse yet, intermittant data corruption that you can't track down. If you are talking about a game server for your buds, well, fine. But if you are talking about a real server then these simple "rules" are common sense. Hate to be so short, but you didn't read the post you replied to very well.
What problem? These are the best adverts- great entertainment and no urge to buy! ;+>
:p
But if the company doesn't sell some product, they won't continue to produce the funny commercials, since they wouldn't work. So its catch 22.
You miss the point. He wasn't being an ass to his employees, more than likely. I use memos like this as well, as a way to use humor to remind people that they should already know this. Its a very mild scolding at worst.
I wrote one two days ago to the effect that I wanted all employees to start using their home computers for all work email. AV software was optional, but at their expense. Using the printer required filling out a special form with 48 hours notice.... (it was funnier in the memo). The point is taken that we have a personal use of business email problem. Rather than get mad about it, I used humor to introduce the reverse concept, that I dont expect them to work from their home computer, so they shouldnt spend our resources on so much personal stuff. Small office, a gentle nudge, a good laugh was had by all, etc. but the point was made and we are changing some stuff to accomodate their needs, but not with the business email domain. (which using it implies consent to the content, after all).
Now, if he is a PHB sending this to 500 employees, then yea, that probably not smart. But if everyone knows him, then they would take it in the right vein.
On a more positive note, at least it was diet Coke. Sugared colas suck to clean up when they 'splode.
That's the dumbest moment in advertising? I thought that commercial was hilarious!!
;) hense the problem.
How funny, meaningful, informative, or insightful a commercial is, is pretty much meaningless by itself. We can all recall many very funny or interesting commercials, but can't remember the product. Banks are famous for this. I could give other examples, but you wouldn't remember the commercial if I named the product
The fact that you remember the product, liked the commercial, and would possibly consider the product because of it, is all that matters. The first time I saw that commercial (they show a tamer version before 10pm here) I was a bit shocked, but amused, which is also a good thing for a commercial.
So, coming from someone who has been in marketing for 20 years (me) I would agree that this is a good campaign for their target audience (men 15-45). Bad thing is you are compelled to look each time to see if he is really drinking that pooch's milk, yuck.
Hate to pop in, but you guys dont seem to have used servers before. It DOES matter to put a server on carpet, for a few reasons.
1. Static electricity is a potential problem. You should have have carpet in a server room, or a workbench area. But this is a minor point.
2. Heat. This is a real problem. Many servers (including many of my older IBM servers) have planer boards in the bottom of the cases. For those of you in Rio Linda, the planer board is where the cpu and drm (voltage regulator) is mounted. This is the hottest portion of the server case by a long shot. These system exhaust the hot air at the bottom back and/or bottom of the base. This is why they have pedestals, to keep the bottom of the case raised slightly to aid airflow
Funny thing, if you HAVE to put this type of server flat on carpet, the smartest thing you can do is to put them upside down, so the tech that installed them was probably doing the best with what he had. No components inside the computer cares if it is upside down. Hard drives and fans work just fine upside down, and most fans work fine at 90 degrees as well. (old systems used to mount HDs this way, I don't personally recommend it for a 15k drive)
If you have any doubts as to what is stated herein, go take any old computer, lie it directly on the carpet with the normally hottest surface down (usually top or bottom, depending on airflow configuration) and let it lie there a few hours. Lift and feel. The carpet acts as an insulator, and WILL lead to premature failure. Remember, the average server has been running continuously for a couple years, not just a couple hours.
[pharmboy@gemini pharmboy]#startx
-bash: startx: command not found
[pharmboy@gemini pharmboy]#redhat-gnome-gnu-gpl-startx
;)
wish I had a point for ya.
/. just looking for ways to correct people by adding GNU to their posts. Rather sad.
I keep preaching that the best way to turn people OFF of GPL is to preach it (Recursive preaching, I think....). Most people just want software to DO stuff, not make political statments.
Fortunately, the majority of souls who are consumed by the urge to place GNU tags on terms we all already KNOW are GNU are not the actual GNU/GPL programmers that are making significant contributions. I can picture a few individuals who can't write a bash script actually trolling through
'rm -rf $HOME/*'
/bin, /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin are all owned by root and are r-x (no write permission). You CAN install spywear to /home/username/bin but that would only infect that one user, and is easier to detect.
Yes, there are some risks, just like with any OS. But if you backup your personal files, you can restore them if you are hit. This is still a problem, but at least you would have an OS to restore from.
Its only where you want to keep one user from harming another user's files that permissions really shine. Yes, file permissions may stop malicious software from easily poisoning the base system, but they do nothing to protect the actual user. For that, all users (Windows or Linux) must rely on safe practices (especially backups).
And the underlying OS, which is a bit more than trivial if you have to re-install. Windows, BY DESIGN, can not be backed up correctly. They want you to reinstall the OS, reup the updates, reinstall the apps, reupdate the AV, then restore the datafiles from backups. With Linux, its easy to have a cron job to backup all your files everyday, with the resulting tarball owned by root. Restoring from a catostrophic deleting would take a whopping 3 minutes as root (tar -xzf filename.tgz assuming you tarred with the full pathname). Its easy enough to write a 10 line script that is run daily with cron that will freshen the backup file, or maintain 7 days worth of backup files. Just as easy to make a "restore" script. Last time I reinstalled Windows on my home computer, it took over 20 hours to install the OS, Photoshop, AV, the other 50 programs I run, and restore the datafiles from backup. Last restore I did on Linux took a few minutes. A restore from a FULL BACKUP, using DUMP/RESTORE from tape, removeable drive, etc. might take an hour. Maybe.
Besides, in the home setting, the user *is* the admin and can easily override sanity to install the cool (spyware) rpm's he just found. Just like how Windows users install so much spyware.
But with Linux, it will at least PROMPT you for a password, which helps to tell you that something is wrong. With Windows, it doesn't need to prompt you, so you never even get a clue that you are being installed with spywear/adware/trojans. In any Linux distro,
Like I said before, Windows IS easier to use, but Linux is easier to protect and maintain. I am saying this to you as I am currently reformatting a dual cpu box I had used as a backup dns/special applications server running Win2k, and now running Linux on it. Replacing the apps is a pain in the ass, but so was trying to manage a light duty server with no shell that wanted to pop up windows all the time, that no one saw since it has no monitor/keyboard/mouse. (oh yea, windows loves having no mouse....)
Ok... When did SCO actauly get developers? I thought the whole company was a bunch of lawyers?Honestly, wtf is 4,000 developers been doing this whole time if they arn't writing code.
;) They just see them as free employees, which you have to admit is cheaper than outsourcing to India.
I think they were referring to the OSS programmers writing actual kernel code, which SCO thinks it owns now
I can't imagine what being being revered and hated is like!
Pretty much a love/hate relationship...
Because of the economics. Until it is too costly (and not just in monetary costs), these things will continue to plague us.
I would disagree with the virus' plagueing us on Linux the way they do in Windows. Yes, there will be, and currently ARE, viruses/trojans/exploits that affect Linux, but the security structure makes a huge difference. Everyone talks about how "Linux" has the same number of exploits as Windows, but that is very misleading.
I use windows on the desktop and linux on the server and a few desktops, the basis for my comparison. When you hear about a "Linux exploit" its seldom the actual OS, and the majority have no effect on the majority of systems. If BIND has a buffer overflow, its called a "Linux exploit" even tho isc.org has no affiliation with Linus, BIND runs on virtually any unix system (even sco) and most Linux boxes don't run it. The same is true with most other "exploits" on linux. This is not true with Windows exploits, which affect virtually every Windows box with the same version.
No OS will ever be totally secure, but there is such a fundamental difference in the two that you really can't compare the two. Most everything is run at maximum priveleges in Windows, where in Linux, everything is run as an unpriveleged user. Generally, you only have ONE root/administrator in Linux, where you can have multiple in Windows. In Windows, some general applications require you have root/admin access to run them, where this is not the case for Linux (although Lindows et al are not respective of this policy).
I'm no Linux zealot, and personally think Windows is much easier to use on the desktop right now, but the vulnerability of any *nix will never be as bad as Windows unless you try to make it that bad.
As to spywear and adware, there is and will always be programs to prevent/get rid of those on both platforms, and the future for these products only look better in the future. Oh, and because Linux is permissions based, its a bit easier to control these, by design, anyway.
As to the $450 word processor, I use Open Office on Windows at work, where I convert our product manuals to PDF for distribution online (among other things), something I can't do with that $450 MS product.
I would say "FreeDOS is DOS 5.0
According to FreeDOS, its a 3.3 clone. Not my opinion, but their goal. It may have a few extra features not found in 3.3, but its a well stated goal by the actual authors.
I don't mean to rag when I call it mediocre, its just, well, it is. I have recently installed it on a fresh 1.6gb drive on my test computer (all HD are in trays, swap in and out, 12 different OSs) and it did not want to run alot of programs. I also have a windows 3.1/dos 6.22 drive to compare with.
You are correct that you have to compensate with emm386 to get it to work right, if you can at all. This is the primary reason I call it mediocre. It does fine with 8 bit stuff, but barfs on lots of 16bit stuff that needs upper memory. I mean, its a good attempt, but after testing it, I would not put it in production where I needed DOS. This is what I was testing it for. Its just not ready for prime time, and unfortunately, even DOS 6.22 is well past its prime.
Dell doesn't pay per single computer shipped. The reason they're shipping these PCs with FreeDos is exactly because their volume license with Microsoft doesn't allow for PCs to be shipped without OS.
You still pay more, because you pay the same if it has windows or if it doesn't, so you are technically getting less for the same price.
Also, why aren't they shipping and supporting linux,
They have for years, but only on servers, starting with RH 7.x
About 18 months ago, I went ahead and did the Dell thing for Mom, with 2.0 celeron, 20gb, 256mb, xphome, and got her onto aol for 6 months, then cable modem. Wasn't too bad, about $700 shipping and all, with a 17" monitor. Was xmas present 2002. At the time I didn't want to take "the risk" of sending her a Linux box, but if I was sending it now, would probably do the walmart box with Fedora or RH9 installed. Especially because after buying monitors, I could now get 2 computers for the same price.
Oh, I also have bought 3 of the via 1000mhz boxes (CR-53) which are not bad, but not as good a deal. no ram, no hd, no cd, no floppy, but a really small format for around $153 for case/mb/cpu. Couldn't find them the next time I needed boxes, so I bought the Walmart boxes, which turned out to be a better deal.
I was thinking the exact same thing. I have been getting distro happy the last few months, trying several, and I have personally burned and given out several Knoppix CDs, including mailing them to relatives. Its the best for trying Linux, without having to install anything. I have used it a more than a few times to recover data, check disks, copy data, etc. from win9x disks. Wanting to find out how to modify and reburn it, to run it more in 'expert' mode rather than desktop mode, but loving the completeness of it.
I just downloaded featherlinux (70mb i think) to test it. Its supposed to be the best lightweight utility bootable CD version.