Maybe you should ask around and see if there isn't an application at your company created with some third party tool that nobody else knows anything about. Most companies have something like this somewhere. Heck, maybe it's just an old Clipper database or something.
Once you've found this abandoned solution, walk right into the CIO's office and volunteer to support it.
After a few months of this(actually it'll extend into years because everybody will now associate your name with it as long as you work there), you'll begin to appreciate why people in IT prefer you use the tools that they already have in house, when they are applicable. I can't tell you the number of times I've had a solution dumped on me by someone leaving the company who assured us "don't worry about the strange technology, i'll support it."
New technology can be nice, but it requires justification on technical merit. (i.e. is there something PHP-MySQL can do for you that Java-Oracle can't?)
Digital technology has, for the first time in human history, eliminated a scarcity.
Eliminated? Hardly.
It's certainly lowered the bar and made it more readily available. But to access the information one still needs the technology in place... computer, phone line, etc. And, of course, someone has to host the source of the information.
It is exactly the same as the leap forward created by the printing press in the 15th century, the leap forward created by wood pulp paper in the 19th century, and general computers in the 20th century. It's simply another step in an ongoing chain of developments.
I would have to say you certainly suffer from the cyberbuff affliction mentioned in the article.
If within two years your predictions come true, that you will only be able to run MS-approved applications on MS-approved hardware on MS-approved OS I will send you the sum of $100.
However if within two years this does not come to play, you will send me $100.
Two years too soon? How about 5 years? Hell, I'll even up it to a $1,000 wager if that will make you feel better.
I'm just curious if any of the Chicken Little's in the world are willing to put some money where their mouth is.
I guess I'm somewhat confused by the fee schedule.
I have a Voicestream phone... er I mean Deutsche-Telekom... er I mean T-Mobile... here in the states. For US$40/month I get 600 minutes during the work week and unlimited on weekends.
I get free long distance, and if I stay within GSM providers I get free roaming.
Now, yes... the US is a large country and we don't have 100% coverage on any given standard. Generally only in the major metro areas and along connecting interstates.
Microsoft produces something that has value, whereas the Robber Barrons did not. If what Microsoft created had no value, you would not be using it or whining about it.
Whenever I go to windows update and there is a new version of their update control, it prompts me to download it.
My advice to you would be to step away from the computer... choose a career in fishery and wildlife where you will be as far away from computers as possible. Maybe you could watch for forest fires in Colorado, I hear there is a job opening.
And I'd say you lack ethics for accusing me of that when it's flat-out wrong.
Interesting, because you have no proof or evidence to suggest that I am wrong, or to even support your claims. Both my explanation and yours rely up supposition. However, whereas mine provides a very likely rational, yours relies on conspiracies and fantasies in order to support it, which makes mine much more logically plausible.
It isn't ethical to make up stories and lies about people just because you don't like them.
I also note, from your Web site, that you're a Windows developer, which may be the reason why you're so fast to jump in and deny Microsoft's rather transparent strategy.
Nice cheap shot. What does it say about you that your personal web site responds with a 404 error?
The only OBJECT tag on that page is one referring to Macromedia shockwave.
I imagine if you've already installed gator once, it is not unreasonable to assume that the applet goes through and makes system changes. Although, really if it is doing that it shouldn't be marked safe for scripting... Perhaps Microsoft should have their key revoked? They could certainly push that out as an IE update.
I only download ActiveX content from known trusted companies(mainly just Microsoft and Macromedia)
Also, when doing research, some of the lower quality sites have it set up so that gator autoinstalls when you hit the page, it doesn't even ask for a confirmation.
That's impossible unless you had decided to specifically trust all ActiveX content from Gator Corporation.
I just confirmed this by going to Gator.com... yes, it popped up and asked if I wanted to install it, but I confirmed No. I think the problem is your users are saying 'Yes', and you believe them when they say "But but, it never even asked me! I swear!!!!"
Common practice back in those days when chips were socketed rather than surface mounted.
On my Amiga 500, every time I would transport it from school to home or back, I would have to open up the case and press down on all the chips to reseat them.
It seemed dependent a lot on how much the case might flex... the larger the circuit board the more likely this was. For instance on my VIC-20 I hardly ever had this problem, maybe only once or twice.
You're right, most embedded devices do not have operating systems, or have any such need. i.e. the computers which control engines in cars, various monitoring devices and so forth.
They're usually something like an 80186 with 16K of RAM hand coded in assembler.
But the term embedded has become confused as of late with appliance computing where you make a special purpose computer using fairly generic parts, but configure the OS and software so it provides only a specific function. Things like those Cobalt servers, and so forth.
Bah, total lack of ethics. I'd say you lack ethics for accusing Microsoft of every little fantasy of yours.
Microsoft and other companies in the tech community have spoken out against the SSSCA. Primarily because most everybody realizes that it would put a huge damper on new sales.
But that doesn't mean they are stupid. If it does pass, they want to be in a position to provide hardware and software which will support it. Otherwise they have nothing to sell themselves, and that is assured to put a damper on sales.
The point of using statistics is to be able to compare the various nations. Otherwise we rely solely on anecdotal evidence. (My grandma died at age 48 because nobody would give her an aspirin!)
Regardless, even if you take out the small differences in society, whatever... what we still come down to is a US system which is no better than the Canadian system and yet costs 2-3 times more.
I think the US system is inefficient, and it is getting moreso every day.
The lesson comes at a high cost for many Canadians (witness the breakdown of their health care system),
I am not totally familiar with the Canadian health care system. My understanding is that it's administered by the provinces, and that there has been a lot of discussion as of late of doctor shortages and so forth.
But recently someone on a local usenet newsgroup made this same claim you are making, and in the same note tried to imply that the US health care system is perfectly fine because of it's capitalist nature. (as opposed to the evil of socialism) So I was curious and started looking for some facts.
What I found is that life expectancy in the US is less than other G8 nations which have socialized health care(France, Germany, Canada, UK, Italy, Japan) with the exception of Russia. Furthermore the infant mortality rate is also higher in the US compared to the other G8 nations, again with the exception of Russia.
On top of that, the amount spent on health care in the US per capita is much greater... in the neighborhood of double. This despite(or maybe because of?) something like 40-60 million Americans lacking health insurance.
So I guess I'm puzzled. If Canada's system has broken down, what term do we use to describe the US system? A complete failure?
I'm a pretty big proponent for capitalism, as can be evidenced by my ridicule of the GPL proponents and the Microsoft antitrust trial on/. But I also recognize that health care, like food, clothing and shelter, is a basic human need whereas software is a luxury item. I think that difference in need versus luxury should have some bearing on a discussion as to the economic viability of solutions to a growing problem.
If the best capitalism can do for healthcare is drive costs up without yielding any demonstrable benefits measured by statistical indicators perhaps we should be looking at alternatives?
The availability of patches means nothing if the patches are not installed.
Nearly every exploit I have encountered out in the wild has had patches available for the systems effected months prior. If the patches had been installed everywhere, there would have been no problem.
So I would have to argue that a question of a few days is statistically irrelevant when compared to the social problem of admins and users not applying the patches.
An even more important data point is that IIS has a large feature set, whereas Apache has a rather small feature set.
If one were to also include all of the add-on's to Apache, perl, php as well as comparable ftp, smtp, nntp and such add-ons in your discussion of bugs and so forth you'd find that it's pretty close to IIS in terms of problems. Especially if you used wu-ftpd as part of the comparison.
They don't have to. Only a significant minority have to - and they do.
But not in practice. There are certain exceptions to this rule, with say Apache. But if you look at the big picture this generally does not occur.
It seems one of the problems with the open source claims is that they all rely upon anecdotal evidence, which is not really useful for an intelligent discussion.
4) Open source software can have bugs discovered due the sheer numbers of people with access to the source.
Unforunately this hasn't proven out in practice. Having access to the source doesn't mean that people look at the source. Even if they do, it doesn't mean that they know how to fix the bug correctly.(look at that recent ISS fix for Apache that everybody claimed wasn't a proper fix)
Again I think we're back to the same fact that there is no fundamental difference. It's important that you remember to disconnect "in theory" from "in practice" in any analysis.
Plus, just because you are not aware of the inner operations of a company doesn't mean that they aren't, in effect, performing the same basic functions as the open source projects. I'd refer you to that article from the Lotus developer who pointed out how little actual difference there is between commercial approaches and what was described by ESR in his Cathedral paper, but I can't find the damn link right now.
In addition to Crucial, I would recommend Kingston memory. It's the same cost, same quality and is a brand you can oftentimes find sold by retailers. However, whereas with Crucial the best prices are from crucial.com, with kingston the best prices are from retailers.
I've been building my own PC's since about 1991. Every few years everything changes, and you sort of have to reevaluate the market.
I've ordered a lot of components from mwave.com... definately a thumbs up.
I've also had some good experiences with googlegear.com, although their site is a bit hard to use.
Some things I've found buy.com to be the best deal... I guess I tend to like them because they ship somewhat local to me so UPS standard arrives in 2 days instead of 6 from California.
The Division prosecutes serious and willful violations of the antitrust laws by filing criminal suits that can lead to large fines and jail sentences. Where criminal prosecution is not appropriate, the Division institutes a civil action seeking a court order forbidding future violations of the law and requiring steps to remedy the anti-competitive effects of past violations. Many of the Division's accomplishments on these fronts were made possible by an unprecedented level of cooperation and coordination with foreign antitrust enforcement agencies and with State Attorneys General.
It would appear that the DOJ goes after individual's with criminal prosecution, but in the case of corporations they use civil. Otherwise Microsoft would simply have paid the $10 million fine and walked away. You forgot to quote that part.
So MS is a convicted felon.
So Microsoft is NOT a convicted felon.
But nice to see you still got your blinders on.
Sorry, it's simply a case of my being more informed than you.
If Slashdot is anti-Microsoft, then why do the astroturfers all have a +1 bonus?
Well look on the bright side, even those ignorant of the Microsoft case such as yourself have a +1 bonus. So you can spew your anti-MS rhetoric at the same level.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe you should ask around and see if there isn't an application at your company created with some third party tool that nobody else knows anything about. Most companies have something like this somewhere. Heck, maybe it's just an old Clipper database or something.
Once you've found this abandoned solution, walk right into the CIO's office and volunteer to support it.
After a few months of this(actually it'll extend into years because everybody will now associate your name with it as long as you work there), you'll begin to appreciate why people in IT prefer you use the tools that they already have in house, when they are applicable. I can't tell you the number of times I've had a solution dumped on me by someone leaving the company who assured us "don't worry about the strange technology, i'll support it."
New technology can be nice, but it requires justification on technical merit. (i.e. is there something PHP-MySQL can do for you that Java-Oracle can't?)
Digital technology has, for the first time in human history, eliminated a scarcity.
Eliminated? Hardly.
It's certainly lowered the bar and made it more readily available. But to access the information one still needs the technology in place... computer, phone line, etc. And, of course, someone has to host the source of the information.
It is exactly the same as the leap forward created by the printing press in the 15th century, the leap forward created by wood pulp paper in the 19th century, and general computers in the 20th century. It's simply another step in an ongoing chain of developments.
I would have to say you certainly suffer from the cyberbuff affliction mentioned in the article.
Ok, here's my offer.
If within two years your predictions come true, that you will only be able to run MS-approved applications on MS-approved hardware on MS-approved OS I will send you the sum of $100.
However if within two years this does not come to play, you will send me $100.
Two years too soon? How about 5 years? Hell, I'll even up it to a $1,000 wager if that will make you feel better.
I'm just curious if any of the Chicken Little's in the world are willing to put some money where their mouth is.
I guess I'm somewhat confused by the fee schedule.
I have a Voicestream phone... er I mean Deutsche-Telekom... er I mean T-Mobile... here in the states. For US$40/month I get 600 minutes during the work week and unlimited on weekends.
I get free long distance, and if I stay within GSM providers I get free roaming.
Now, yes... the US is a large country and we don't have 100% coverage on any given standard. Generally only in the major metro areas and along connecting interstates.
Has anybody but NASA been to the moon lately?
Personally I think you are easily scared.
BOO!!!!
Whee bit of difference there.
Microsoft produces something that has value, whereas the Robber Barrons did not. If what Microsoft created had no value, you would not be using it or whining about it.
Whenever I go to windows update and there is a new version of their update control, it prompts me to download it.
My advice to you would be to step away from the computer... choose a career in fishery and wildlife where you will be as far away from computers as possible. Maybe you could watch for forest fires in Colorado, I hear there is a job opening.
And I'd say you lack ethics for accusing me of that when it's flat-out wrong.
Interesting, because you have no proof or evidence to suggest that I am wrong, or to even support your claims. Both my explanation and yours rely up supposition. However, whereas mine provides a very likely rational, yours relies on conspiracies and fantasies in order to support it, which makes mine much more logically plausible.
It isn't ethical to make up stories and lies about people just because you don't like them.
I also note, from your Web site, that you're a Windows developer, which may be the reason why you're so fast to jump in and deny Microsoft's rather transparent strategy.
Nice cheap shot. What does it say about you that your personal web site responds with a 404 error?
The only OBJECT tag on that page is one referring to Macromedia shockwave.
I imagine if you've already installed gator once, it is not unreasonable to assume that the applet goes through and makes system changes. Although, really if it is doing that it shouldn't be marked safe for scripting... Perhaps Microsoft should have their key revoked? They could certainly push that out as an IE update.
I only download ActiveX content from known trusted companies(mainly just Microsoft and Macromedia)
Also, when doing research, some of the lower quality sites have it set up so that gator autoinstalls when you hit the page, it doesn't even ask for a confirmation.
That's impossible unless you had decided to specifically trust all ActiveX content from Gator Corporation.
I just confirmed this by going to Gator.com... yes, it popped up and asked if I wanted to install it, but I confirmed No. I think the problem is your users are saying 'Yes', and you believe them when they say "But but, it never even asked me! I swear!!!!"
So Tivo sucks because it allows you to skip past the commercials?
Sometimes people should stop to think how consistent their arguments are.
Common practice back in those days when chips were socketed rather than surface mounted.
On my Amiga 500, every time I would transport it from school to home or back, I would have to open up the case and press down on all the chips to reseat them.
It seemed dependent a lot on how much the case might flex... the larger the circuit board the more likely this was. For instance on my VIC-20 I hardly ever had this problem, maybe only once or twice.
You're right, most embedded devices do not have operating systems, or have any such need. i.e. the computers which control engines in cars, various monitoring devices and so forth.
They're usually something like an 80186 with 16K of RAM hand coded in assembler.
But the term embedded has become confused as of late with appliance computing where you make a special purpose computer using fairly generic parts, but configure the OS and software so it provides only a specific function. Things like those Cobalt servers, and so forth.
Bah, total lack of ethics. I'd say you lack ethics for accusing Microsoft of every little fantasy of yours.
Microsoft and other companies in the tech community have spoken out against the SSSCA. Primarily because most everybody realizes that it would put a huge damper on new sales.
But that doesn't mean they are stupid. If it does pass, they want to be in a position to provide hardware and software which will support it. Otherwise they have nothing to sell themselves, and that is assured to put a damper on sales.
The point of using statistics is to be able to compare the various nations. Otherwise we rely solely on anecdotal evidence. (My grandma died at age 48 because nobody would give her an aspirin!)
Regardless, even if you take out the small differences in society, whatever... what we still come down to is a US system which is no better than the Canadian system and yet costs 2-3 times more.
I think the US system is inefficient, and it is getting moreso every day.
Your description of the UK and France problems with queues to see a doctor and a nurse shortage because they are badly paid is also true in the US.
The US system is definately a complete failure.
The lesson comes at a high cost for many Canadians (witness the breakdown of their health care system),
/. But I also recognize that health care, like food, clothing and shelter, is a basic human need whereas software is a luxury item. I think that difference in need versus luxury should have some bearing on a discussion as to the economic viability of solutions to a growing problem.
I am not totally familiar with the Canadian health care system. My understanding is that it's administered by the provinces, and that there has been a lot of discussion as of late of doctor shortages and so forth.
But recently someone on a local usenet newsgroup made this same claim you are making, and in the same note tried to imply that the US health care system is perfectly fine because of it's capitalist nature. (as opposed to the evil of socialism) So I was curious and started looking for some facts.
What I found is that life expectancy in the US is less than other G8 nations which have socialized health care(France, Germany, Canada, UK, Italy, Japan) with the exception of Russia. Furthermore the infant mortality rate is also higher in the US compared to the other G8 nations, again with the exception of Russia.
On top of that, the amount spent on health care in the US per capita is much greater... in the neighborhood of double. This despite(or maybe because of?) something like 40-60 million Americans lacking health insurance.
So I guess I'm puzzled. If Canada's system has broken down, what term do we use to describe the US system? A complete failure?
I'm a pretty big proponent for capitalism, as can be evidenced by my ridicule of the GPL proponents and the Microsoft antitrust trial on
If the best capitalism can do for healthcare is drive costs up without yielding any demonstrable benefits measured by statistical indicators perhaps we should be looking at alternatives?
The availability of patches means nothing if the patches are not installed.
Nearly every exploit I have encountered out in the wild has had patches available for the systems effected months prior. If the patches had been installed everywhere, there would have been no problem.
So I would have to argue that a question of a few days is statistically irrelevant when compared to the social problem of admins and users not applying the patches.
An even more important data point is that IIS has a large feature set, whereas Apache has a rather small feature set.
If one were to also include all of the add-on's to Apache, perl, php as well as comparable ftp, smtp, nntp and such add-ons in your discussion of bugs and so forth you'd find that it's pretty close to IIS in terms of problems. Especially if you used wu-ftpd as part of the comparison.
They don't have to. Only a significant minority have to - and they do.
But not in practice. There are certain exceptions to this rule, with say Apache. But if you look at the big picture this generally does not occur.
It seems one of the problems with the open source claims is that they all rely upon anecdotal evidence, which is not really useful for an intelligent discussion.
4) Open source software can have bugs discovered due the sheer numbers of people with access to the source.
Unforunately this hasn't proven out in practice. Having access to the source doesn't mean that people look at the source. Even if they do, it doesn't mean that they know how to fix the bug correctly.(look at that recent ISS fix for Apache that everybody claimed wasn't a proper fix)
Again I think we're back to the same fact that there is no fundamental difference. It's important that you remember to disconnect "in theory" from "in practice" in any analysis.
Plus, just because you are not aware of the inner operations of a company doesn't mean that they aren't, in effect, performing the same basic functions as the open source projects. I'd refer you to that article from the Lotus developer who pointed out how little actual difference there is between commercial approaches and what was described by ESR in his Cathedral paper, but I can't find the damn link right now.
In addition to Crucial, I would recommend Kingston memory. It's the same cost, same quality and is a brand you can oftentimes find sold by retailers. However, whereas with Crucial the best prices are from crucial.com, with kingston the best prices are from retailers.
I've been building my own PC's since about 1991. Every few years everything changes, and you sort of have to reevaluate the market.
I've ordered a lot of components from mwave.com... definately a thumbs up.
I've also had some good experiences with googlegear.com, although their site is a bit hard to use.
Some things I've found buy.com to be the best deal... I guess I tend to like them because they ship somewhat local to me so UPS standard arrives in 2 days instead of 6 from California.
Actually no...
Read the case... This was a Civil action brought against Microsoft.
This is consistent with the Antitrust Division's mission:
It would appear that the DOJ goes after individual's with criminal prosecution, but in the case of corporations they use civil. Otherwise Microsoft would simply have paid the $10 million fine and walked away. You forgot to quote that part.
So MS is a convicted felon.
So Microsoft is NOT a convicted felon.
But nice to see you still got your blinders on.
Sorry, it's simply a case of my being more informed than you.
If Slashdot is anti-Microsoft, then why do the astroturfers all have a +1 bonus?
Well look on the bright side, even those ignorant of the Microsoft case such as yourself have a +1 bonus. So you can spew your anti-MS rhetoric at the same level.
What if there are people who have bothered to learn the details of the case and still disagree with you?
Are you going to call them names and stamp your feet?