Ask them for references. Ask for positive ones and one that projects completed successfully but took longer then planned, problems arose, etc, and tell them you are looking to evaluate the professional side of their business as well as their technical. If they refuse, I'd think they might be one to stay away from. Also, toss their name into Google and see what comes up.......
Would I give a semi-negative references to a prospective client if they requested it? I think I would, knowing the reference I gave had given the customer 100% satisfaction after the problems arose. I think someone hearing "This blew up and that blew up that we didn't expect, but they stayed here all night to have us up and running in the morning" (or something like that) would consider that a positive thing. You always hear the "Everything went great!" references, which really don't tell the prospective customer that much...
Most of the Thinkpad's have either both or just the trackpoint thingy in the middle of the keyboard. Some even now have a scroll button. My X31 has it and it's great!
I saw this in a advertisment for a consulting gig.
50% Personality, 50% Technical Ability.
If you can't walk into an office and within 2 minutes be mostly comfortable and getting along with everyone, then you shouldn't be a consultant. You don't have a long time to get going, like you would if you were an employee. There's no training, no hand-holding. You are there doing your thing. It's actually quite fun and interesting most of the time!
I think that's great they can admit a an error like that, especially in this corporate day and age. I'm a huge fan of Sony products and was realy undecided about going with Sony for a portable music player on this fact alone and hadn't purchased anything yet as a result. I think I'll hold off some more as they should have something coming out fairly soon (??) that will fit the bill...
I hope this year tape drives can catch up a bit in capacity and lower prices. Tape is essential no matter how reliable your disks are as businesses need off-site data storage as part of their backup strategy.
I've seen a few places backup to external hard drives instead of tape (mainly due to large capacity needed). That's not too bad, but you still have the transport factor, which tape can take much more of a beating then a hard drive.
Online backup to a trusted provider is a great idea as well, but can be limiting by your internet connection's speed. True, you can do incremental/diff backups, but a complete system restore would take way too long.
That's my wish for the new year!! We'll see how it goes.
Agreed, there should be a torrent and other non-Novell mirrors if they desire. I mean, anyone can download it from Novell, why not get it from somewhere else.
Ahh well, I downloaded it right away (ON FRIDAY) and got 100k/s out of them.. I'm happy.:)
I submitted this on Friday. Ahh well. I'm somewhat surprised there isn't much interest in this product from the slashdot community. It's kind of a hybrid product, but maybe Novell isn't 3l1t3 enough to take notice. Oh well, they are taking care of business anyway...
I try to run as many cost-free programs as possible on a day to day basis. I do try to donate some money when I can to them, as I know they put out a considerable amount of effort. I have no problem sending some money in for a program I find useful and is quality work.
Haven't put at my list together yet this year, but typically the guys at putty, Mozilla Foundation, OpenOffice.Org and a few others.
Even just a few extra dollars helps these and other projects out! Give what you can--or wait until the summer when you have more cash to spare. Donations work year round!
It sucked. But the SGI days were awesome. Still have a Challenge S and a gutted Crimson lying around. They had some great hardware and IndigoMagic was very cool too. But even then, they had lack of common apps. Ahh well, stuff comes and goes and now someone should start a museum.
I had the fortune of visiting the SGI campus this year after LinuxWorld in SF. They have a statue of the pipe logo in the front of the building.... They're keepin' the faith!
Main problem I see is the very loud background noise on plans. People will be screaming into their cell phones just to be heard on the other end.
I for one would love to have my cell phone (and accompanying data service) working on the place. Would love to e-mail and whatnot while in the air.
Even if someone else is talking loudly on their cell phone, unless if they are right next to you, you probably won't be able to hear much of it and you should be watching the movie anyway.....:)
I'd say you could navigate gig a music files with no screen if the music player spoke the name of the directory/file to you through the headphones.... That would not be that hard to incorporate into a unit like this. Might not be as quick to navigate to what you are looking for, but it's potentially better then listening to 3 seconds of every sone until you get there........
why does this distro matter in the least when I cannot even download it (please dont point me to the eval)
Your comment seems to go against itself. You say you can't download it, and even ask not to be pointed to a place to download it, even though it's available for download and 30-day trial.
Is it because it's a corporate distribution and not a 100% free money distribution that you think it doesn't matter?
The Novell Linux Desktop 9 is just what you're asking for. $50/year gets you your updates which can be automatically installed.
Ok, ok, automatic updates have been a disaster on Windows, affirmative. But, the main reason why I think automatic updates will and are succeeding on Linux is that you don't need to reboot every single time you get an update. Everything isn't integrated with the operating system, so just individual packages are updated, thus the difference.
NLD really has the cookie-cutter out of the box corporate desktop available now. OOo is a great product that satisfies 99% of the need, and browsers, e-mail and hardware support are all in there.
I suggest downloading the free 30-day trial package at http://www.novell.com and evaluate it for yourself. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
I've downloaded and installed the NLD product (also have seen the SUSE Linux Desktop 1.0 product) and it looks to work quite well for a corporate desktop environment. It has all the essential apps for corporate use. Sure, you enthusiasts won't like some of the app choices they made, but it's not an enthusiast distro-it's a corporate cookie cutter distro. And it's a first step in taking back some Windows desktops, offering a similar operating environment so employees can more easily switch (even if Novell doesn't say they are trying to do that).
It's got all the hardware drivers and guts of SUSE 9, which runs great on standard hardware as well was fancier stuff (like my IBM Thinkpad X31 which is also found in corporate environments). I think they hit the bar on that one and it was something lacking in SUSE Linux Desktop 1.0 product.
$50/year for updates in a corporate (Even mom and pop) environment is a reasonable amount to charge especially considering your low up-front purchase cost. When you look at Windows XP Pro and MS Office Standard or Pro and other apps like that, the cost is like apples and oranges. OpenOffice and other applications are great if not 'good enough' to put on the corporate desktop. Novell themselves prove that it can be done.
GNOME vs KDE, I won't argue that here. I think GNOME is offered in this distro is a very clean, easy to navigate interface with everything where a Windows user might expect it. It also keeps enough advanced customization options away from the user behind a root password in YAST. The reviewer (of the slashdot article) must have been trying way to hard to get a desktop running--just needed to click GNOME or KDE and it did the rest in typical SUSE fashion.
All in all, I'm happy with their release, as the first Novell-packaged corporate offering. I can see larger installations switching departments of people over and some smaller companies using it too (high functionality, low cost benefits).
Visit the Novell home page to get to the download area. You clearly didn't look.
It looks pretty similar to SUSE Pro 9, minus some of the packages. I have installed the demo and it looks pretty good. True, I'm a big Novell'er from way back, but it looks like a solid corporate distro. It has everything your daily worker would need right out of the box. GNOME is just fine for that type of worker, they aren't getting paid for 'pretty', just to work.
Sure there's some room for improvement, more specialized installations, package selection on installation.
But overall it's light and fully functional for your corporate desktop. That is the environment it is meant for, not for the hobbiest or server areas. If you want to tweak or customize with different packages to get 'out of the box' then this distro isn't for you and wasn't meant for you. I hope people get that concept about any of the corporate desktop distros.
And for $50/year for updates, that seems pretty decent to me!
Many people still believe that you have to buy good software. Many are scared of Linux just for that reason, aka, why is it so cheap and come with all these programs?
I hadn't considered assembling a HTPC before mainly due to cases (or lack of AV looking cases) and the fact that I have a ReplayTV. This case looks almost identical to my Denon receiver and Denon DVD players! Kudos to them, I may get one just to put my ReplayTV in!:)
Your mirror rocks--I'm getting a full 28.6k/s down my cable. Oh. What? Seriously, thanks for mirroring.... Probably would have needed to wait until the next eclipse to have a chance at it again.
Slashdot Mirror
Ask them for references. Ask for positive ones and one that projects completed successfully but took longer then planned, problems arose, etc, and tell them you are looking to evaluate the professional side of their business as well as their technical. If they refuse, I'd think they might be one to stay away from. Also, toss their name into Google and see what comes up.......
Would I give a semi-negative references to a prospective client if they requested it? I think I would, knowing the reference I gave had given the customer 100% satisfaction after the problems arose. I think someone hearing "This blew up and that blew up that we didn't expect, but they stayed here all night to have us up and running in the morning" (or something like that) would consider that a positive thing. You always hear the "Everything went great!" references, which really don't tell the prospective customer that much...
Good luck.
-m
Hello................. Pay attention, please!
-m
Most of the Thinkpad's have either both or just the trackpoint thingy in the middle of the keyboard. Some even now have a scroll button. My X31 has it and it's great!
-m
I saw this in a advertisment for a consulting gig.
50% Personality, 50% Technical Ability.
If you can't walk into an office and within 2 minutes be mostly comfortable and getting along with everyone, then you shouldn't be a consultant. You don't have a long time to get going, like you would if you were an employee. There's no training, no hand-holding. You are there doing your thing. It's actually quite fun and interesting most of the time!
I also still have my first client.... heh
-m
Sun who?
-m
I think that's great they can admit a an error like that, especially in this corporate day and age. I'm a huge fan of Sony products and was realy undecided about going with Sony for a portable music player on this fact alone and hadn't purchased anything yet as a result. I think I'll hold off some more as they should have something coming out fairly soon (??) that will fit the bill...
Thanks again, Sony!
-m
I hope this year tape drives can catch up a bit in capacity and lower prices. Tape is essential no matter how reliable your disks are as businesses need off-site data storage as part of their backup strategy.
I've seen a few places backup to external hard drives instead of tape (mainly due to large capacity needed). That's not too bad, but you still have the transport factor, which tape can take much more of a beating then a hard drive.
Online backup to a trusted provider is a great idea as well, but can be limiting by your internet connection's speed. True, you can do incremental/diff backups, but a complete system restore would take way too long.
That's my wish for the new year!! We'll see how it goes.
-m
So what is the real-world speed of these rated-108mbps devices? Half? Third? Anyone tested one yet?
-m
Agreed, there should be a torrent and other non-Novell mirrors if they desire. I mean, anyone can download it from Novell, why not get it from somewhere else.
:)
Ahh well, I downloaded it right away (ON FRIDAY) and got 100k/s out of them.. I'm happy.
Hang in there.
-m
I submitted this on Friday. Ahh well. I'm somewhat surprised there isn't much interest in this product from the slashdot community. It's kind of a hybrid product, but maybe Novell isn't 3l1t3 enough to take notice. Oh well, they are taking care of business anyway...
-m
I try to run as many cost-free programs as possible on a day to day basis. I do try to donate some money when I can to them, as I know they put out a considerable amount of effort. I have no problem sending some money in for a program I find useful and is quality work.
Haven't put at my list together yet this year, but typically the guys at putty, Mozilla Foundation, OpenOffice.Org and a few others.
Even just a few extra dollars helps these and other projects out! Give what you can--or wait until the summer when you have more cash to spare. Donations work year round!
-m
It sucked. But the SGI days were awesome. Still have a Challenge S and a gutted Crimson lying around. They had some great hardware and IndigoMagic was very cool too. But even then, they had lack of common apps. Ahh well, stuff comes and goes and now someone should start a museum.
I had the fortune of visiting the SGI campus this year after LinuxWorld in SF. They have a statue of the pipe logo in the front of the building.... They're keepin' the faith!
-m
Main problem I see is the very loud background noise on plans. People will be screaming into their cell phones just to be heard on the other end.
:)
I for one would love to have my cell phone (and accompanying data service) working on the place. Would love to e-mail and whatnot while in the air.
Even if someone else is talking loudly on their cell phone, unless if they are right next to you, you probably won't be able to hear much of it and you should be watching the movie anyway.....
-m
I'd say you could navigate gig a music files with no screen if the music player spoke the name of the directory/file to you through the headphones.... That would not be that hard to incorporate into a unit like this. Might not be as quick to navigate to what you are looking for, but it's potentially better then listening to 3 seconds of every sone until you get there........
-m
The latest product from the makers of Viagra....
-m
I was just asking my Novell rep when this would happen, finally! Now we can get down to business!!
Just if IBM would do the same.....
-m
Here is what you said:
why does this distro matter in the least when I cannot even download it (please dont point me to the eval)
Your comment seems to go against itself. You say you can't download it, and even ask not to be pointed to a place to download it, even though it's available for download and 30-day trial.
Is it because it's a corporate distribution and not a 100% free money distribution that you think it doesn't matter?
-m
The Novell Linux Desktop 9 is just what you're asking for. $50/year gets you your updates which can be automatically installed.
Ok, ok, automatic updates have been a disaster on Windows, affirmative. But, the main reason why I think automatic updates will and are succeeding on Linux is that you don't need to reboot every single time you get an update. Everything isn't integrated with the operating system, so just individual packages are updated, thus the difference.
NLD really has the cookie-cutter out of the box corporate desktop available now. OOo is a great product that satisfies 99% of the need, and browsers, e-mail and hardware support are all in there.
I suggest downloading the free 30-day trial package at http://www.novell.com and evaluate it for yourself. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
-m
Hey all,
I've downloaded and installed the NLD product (also have seen the SUSE Linux Desktop 1.0 product) and it looks to work quite well for a corporate desktop environment. It has all the essential apps for corporate use. Sure, you enthusiasts won't like some of the app choices they made, but it's not an enthusiast distro-it's a corporate cookie cutter distro. And it's a first step in taking back some Windows desktops, offering a similar operating environment so employees can more easily switch (even if Novell doesn't say they are trying to do that).
It's got all the hardware drivers and guts of SUSE 9, which runs great on standard hardware as well was fancier stuff (like my IBM Thinkpad X31 which is also found in corporate environments). I think they hit the bar on that one and it was something lacking in SUSE Linux Desktop 1.0 product.
$50/year for updates in a corporate (Even mom and pop) environment is a reasonable amount to charge especially considering your low up-front purchase cost. When you look at Windows XP Pro and MS Office Standard or Pro and other apps like that, the cost is like apples and oranges. OpenOffice and other applications are great if not 'good enough' to put on the corporate desktop. Novell themselves prove that it can be done.
GNOME vs KDE, I won't argue that here. I think GNOME is offered in this distro is a very clean, easy to navigate interface with everything where a Windows user might expect it. It also keeps enough advanced customization options away from the user behind a root password in YAST. The reviewer (of the slashdot article) must have been trying way to hard to get a desktop running--just needed to click GNOME or KDE and it did the rest in typical SUSE fashion.
All in all, I'm happy with their release, as the first Novell-packaged corporate offering. I can see larger installations switching departments of people over and some smaller companies using it too (high functionality, low cost benefits).
-m
Hey,
Visit the Novell home page to get to the download area. You clearly didn't look.
It looks pretty similar to SUSE Pro 9, minus some of the packages. I have installed the demo and it looks pretty good. True, I'm a big Novell'er from way back, but it looks like a solid corporate distro. It has everything your daily worker would need right out of the box. GNOME is just fine for that type of worker, they aren't getting paid for 'pretty', just to work.
Sure there's some room for improvement, more specialized installations, package selection on installation.
But overall it's light and fully functional for your corporate desktop. That is the environment it is meant for, not for the hobbiest or server areas. If you want to tweak or customize with different packages to get 'out of the box' then this distro isn't for you and wasn't meant for you. I hope people get that concept about any of the corporate desktop distros.
And for $50/year for updates, that seems pretty decent to me!
-m
Many people still believe that you have to buy good software. Many are scared of Linux just for that reason, aka, why is it so cheap and come with all these programs?
-m
Any chance they'll put it on laserdiscs too? It would actually be great to be able to coat your own somehow...... to preserve older media.
-m
I hadn't considered assembling a HTPC before mainly due to cases (or lack of AV looking cases) and the fact that I have a ReplayTV. This case looks almost identical to my Denon receiver and Denon DVD players! Kudos to them, I may get one just to put my ReplayTV in! :)
-m
Your mirror rocks--I'm getting a full 28.6k/s down my cable. Oh. What? Seriously, thanks for mirroring.... Probably would have needed to wait until the next eclipse to have a chance at it again.
-m
I got nothin'. Who is watching it right now that is tossing this guys server already? Mirror that puppy!
-m