In my (limited) experience every Windows box does have those problems. Honestly I haven't seen one yet that could run for more than several hours, doing real world stuff without it's world comming to a crashing halt.
Oh I've tried. I've sent Windows boxes to many who claimed to be experts to have them fix 'em up. No dice.
I'll agree that it's not some conspiracy, just lousy quality control. The Linux advantage is that someone who experiences the problem has the option of getting under the hood and taking a stab at fixing it. Most Windows users will never have that option.
You might need to reflect on your standard of living. If you lower it then you might be able to meet other goals.
If you are in an area where there isn't much software development, then why are you looking for software development work? If it's because you only WANT to work in software development or sysadmin, then you'll need to look elsewhere. But if you want to stay where you're at you'll either have to look at other jobs or get VERY creative.
I really think it comes down to how you, and the origional poster, have your priorities set.
"My current skill set ties me to only a handful of major cities...."
Nope, it's your attitude that ties you to those cities. If you'll open your mind you'll find that your "skill set" includes things that could get you hired anywhere.
Drop all the way back to the very basics for a moment. You could pump gas or flip burgers. The chances are good that you could stock shelves at a Wal Mart or answer the telephone in a legal office. Work up from there.
The only problem that I see you having is that the only "skill set" you WANT to use ties you to those cities. I live in an area where there are quite a few folks who were in either entertainment or law enforcement in southern California. Don't ask me why people from those professions are so common here, I don't know. But they have either dropped back to basic skills to live here or learned other skills.
You can too.
Methinks you just need to open your mind a bit more.
These days it seems like the hardware is pretty reliable. My (limited) experience with computers running Microsoft products is that most of the complaints and help desk calls are related to software or OS issues.
I wonder if there would be a profit advantage for a company like Dell to ditch Microsoft in favor of their own OS. If it were me I would make my own version of Linux (just to grab something that's out there and working for a head start) and make a distro for my hardware that is rock solid. Then my company would be 100% responsible for what you purchase from us. The way it is now I'll bet that a lot of customer service calls or product returns that Dell, Gateway, Compaq/HP, etc get are directly related to flaws in Microsofts products.
In a way it would be similar to buying an Apple with Mac on it. Apple knows the hardware and has written the OS for it, they are responsible for the whole package in house. The other companies could do similar things with Linux or *BSD.
After all, it looks like that's where Microsoft is heading. The X box is just a start, maybe a proof of concept for them. Don't be too shocked when you see them selling a package of hardware, OS, office suite and games. Dude, they're gonna own Dell.
I think you have to be pretty hardcore about your TV watching to be sitting there going "damn, I really need better resolution". Come on!
I'm on Dish Network, got plenty of channels and still have to search to find anything worth watching half the time.
Soooooo....when my TV dies I'll just pull my Dish account and call it quits. It just seems a strech to be forced to pay more for something I don't need (high definition) to watch something for entertainment.
Something like 3D or 4D might be worth a price increase in the receiver.
"dont bother. anything below a p-66 will be painfully slow."
Absolutely 100% NOT true! I am running several systems that are 386 and 486 based. I have one system that is a 386DX-40MHz which is running an email to alphanumeric paging gateway and doing some automated housekeeping on a network and the damn thing hums right along.
I wouldn't want to use X on a 386, that's for sure. And on a 486 I would think twice about it, and run a very lite window manager (not KDE). But then again there are very few reasons to be running X anyway except for a desktop client.
Actually it is not impossible to generate those records for RF broadcasters. For many years they have been required to keep station logs. One of the things they log is every song played.
In the old days, when my father ran a radio station, they would simply write down the artist and song on the log sheet as they cued the record. Oh, and the records were provided free of charge by the music companies as part of the service. These days the music comes in electronic form and is logged just as it would be for an internet broadcaster.
Those logs are then used to calculate how much money the station needs to pay the music service. If I remember correctly the pricing wasn't the same for all songs. Certain songs ("hits") cost the station more but that is ok because the theory is that the more hits you play the more listeners you have. The more listeners you have the more advertising you sell and the better the bottom line.
This is one reason that college stations and the like don't play popular music. The stuff they play doesn't get much airplay so it's supposed to be cheap or free.
At least that's the way I remember it, and I do know that generating the records has become easier.
"The word for it is "democracy". The wishes of the 2 million Nevada residents are overriden by the wishes of the 279 million residents in other states."
And that would be fine if Nevada was part of a demorcracy. It is not. Minor point.
But you are correct that the lives of those two million Nevadans are worthless, null and void. The lives and quality of life of those other 279 million are wothh more because they are a majority. As a majority they have full moral, ethical, and legal right to ruin the area in which those piddley 2 million live.
"New Jersey has 5 times Nevada's population, and in a much smaller and more valuable area of land as well. The potential damage and loss of life that would occur due to a nuclear accident in NJ is far greater than that in NV. This is why Nevada was chosen in the first palce."
Of course their land is more valuable, they don't have nuclear waste burried there!
Based upon your logic I don't see why we don't ship the waste to someplace like Iraq. They have a lot of wide open space and with far less potential for damage than even Nevada. Plus we don't like them and they aren't even in our country. We could all vote on it and do it. We can kick their ass, so what's the problem?
No, if places like NYC, LA, and New Jersey need all this power then they should generate it themselves and take care of their own byproducts. It's called responsibility for your own actions.
Meanwhile people crowd into places like LA where the land won't support that many people and they have to import water and power and export the waste products. It's bullshit, and while it may be fair by the rules of the federal government, it still does not make it morally right.
I see, so if one state doesn't want something but the other 49 gang up on them, then they're gonna get it. What a wonderful system we have.
Interesting too that Nevada doesn't have any commercial reactors, yet they get stuck with the waste. In fact the bulk of the nuclear material and programs within the state are federal.
Yup, the waste has to go somewhere. So in this case someone shits in New Jersey and it ends up in Nevada's back yard.
Why is this being posted as science when it's actually science fiction? Anyone who's really in that part of the science business knows that it would take a minimum of 100 years before we could leave earth for new in any signifigant numbers. Even then those numbers wouldn't be large enough to make an impact......
If you believe that enviromentalist wacko crap.
No, here again we see "enviromentalists" pulling at peoples emotions. If they were really concerned about the enviroment they would use some actual science and come up with some real answers.
Sorry but camping in trees, jumping nude in front of logging trucks, or posting sci-fi stories on the internet doesn't make anyone appear knowlegable. It certainly doesn't do anything towards presenting a solution to whatever you think the problem is.
I can imagine a rewrite of Joe's garage. Joe's just been released from prison and starts to play a guitar riff in his head because music is illegal. But then the thought police come take him back to jail because the guitar riff he was playing wasn't his, he didn't pay a royalty, and a telepath nearby could have read his mind.
I had to read what I posted several times and still I don't see where I claimed that Freon wasn't harmful to the enviroment. Actually I'm sure it was in some way.
What I said was that it was not a disaster. Floods, volcano eruptions, earthquakes, airplanes crashing into buildings.....these things are disasters.
If you're really wondering how it saved lives, take the time to do a little research into how Freon was used. Go visit an HVAC technician. Drop an email to Dupont. Talk to a doctor. But at least take the time to find out and don't let the enviromental extremests rule your thinking with their emotional plays.
True, maybe Freon wasn't the best thing in the long run. Same with R12, it was just as bad. But until we knew better it was used for good, not evil.
I a just so sick and fucking tired of comments like that being thrown into what should be reported as news. Yes, Microsoft sucks because of their strong arm tactics and lack of quality in their products. But that bit about Freon being a "disaster" had no place in the story, it was simply an enviromental wacko dig and had no place in the story.
"...we all know what a disaster the actual chemical Freon was."
Big assumption there cuz I don't know about any disaster. I do know that Freon had some very important uses in refrigeration and electronics which saved lives and improved the quality of life for millions.
How about just reporting the news without the emotional enviromental bullshit panic phrases. Thanks.
You're right, the calls don't stop. But they are less frequent and, when the calls come, you can be pretty confident that you can correct the problem. My (limited) experience with Windows is that when the calls come you often can't get to the source of the problem and the user just has to live with it because "that's the way Windows is".
I love calls like "How do I do X" and "How do I view this file I downloaded" because those are the kinds of questions asked by interested people who want to learn. They pay, I teach, they learn, we're all happy.
Sounds like you've had a NASTY installation experience. I can honestly say I've never had anything that bad before and I've setup (guessing here) maybe 50 Linux desktop machines for non-geeks.
Seriously I would suggest you try again with another distro (Mandrake is amazingly easy and consistant to install).
I've got some friends who support Windows users and they will agree that they are 4 or 5 times more busy than I with calls for help after they've setup a machine. No, Windows users don't just reboot and carry on. They reboot and swear in frustration, especially when they lose important data because of some silly failure.
All I can say is that it's working pretty well for me. I'm not a programmer, and I'm dumb as a box of rocks, but I am able to cobble together some script. So some folks have me write them simple scripts for simple things and that keeps me in beer money. Other folks aren't so lazy and really do want to learn to do it for themselves. So I show them how to get started poking around in KDE and a bit of command line stuff and answer any questions that come up for them. That keeps me in chips and burgers which I wash down with the beer.
I'm not getting rich, but I am gaining some weight.
It's not so bad really. You would be suprised at how many people have computers just to do email or surf the web and dont do anything else with them.
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In my (limited) experience every Windows box does have those problems. Honestly I haven't seen one yet that could run for more than several hours, doing real world stuff without it's world comming to a crashing halt.
Oh I've tried. I've sent Windows boxes to many who claimed to be experts to have them fix 'em up. No dice.
I'll agree that it's not some conspiracy, just lousy quality control. The Linux advantage is that someone who experiences the problem has the option of getting under the hood and taking a stab at fixing it. Most Windows users will never have that option.
You might need to reflect on your standard of living. If you lower it then you might be able to meet other goals.
If you are in an area where there isn't much software development, then why are you looking for software development work? If it's because you only WANT to work in software development or sysadmin, then you'll need to look elsewhere. But if you want to stay where you're at you'll either have to look at other jobs or get VERY creative.
I really think it comes down to how you, and the origional poster, have your priorities set.
Thank you and amen. I was just going to say that myself.
How would I know? I'm doing it.
"My current skill set ties me to only a handful of major cities...."
Nope, it's your attitude that ties you to those cities. If you'll open your mind you'll find that your "skill set" includes things that could get you hired anywhere.
Drop all the way back to the very basics for a moment. You could pump gas or flip burgers. The chances are good that you could stock shelves at a Wal Mart or answer the telephone in a legal office. Work up from there.
The only problem that I see you having is that the only "skill set" you WANT to use ties you to those cities. I live in an area where there are quite a few folks who were in either entertainment or law enforcement in southern California. Don't ask me why people from those professions are so common here, I don't know. But they have either dropped back to basic skills to live here or learned other skills.
You can too.
Methinks you just need to open your mind a bit more.
That might depend on ones belief as to what comes after death.
Another chart that would be interesting would be one showing GNU/Linux vs. Linux.
Some of us just don't give a rats ass about the GNU part of things.
These days it seems like the hardware is pretty reliable. My (limited) experience with computers running Microsoft products is that most of the complaints and help desk calls are related to software or OS issues.
I wonder if there would be a profit advantage for a company like Dell to ditch Microsoft in favor of their own OS. If it were me I would make my own version of Linux (just to grab something that's out there and working for a head start) and make a distro for my hardware that is rock solid. Then my company would be 100% responsible for what you purchase from us. The way it is now I'll bet that a lot of customer service calls or product returns that Dell, Gateway, Compaq/HP, etc get are directly related to flaws in Microsofts products.
In a way it would be similar to buying an Apple with Mac on it. Apple knows the hardware and has written the OS for it, they are responsible for the whole package in house. The other companies could do similar things with Linux or *BSD.
After all, it looks like that's where Microsoft is heading. The X box is just a start, maybe a proof of concept for them. Don't be too shocked when you see them selling a package of hardware, OS, office suite and games. Dude, they're gonna own Dell.
I think you have to be pretty hardcore about your TV watching to be sitting there going "damn, I really need better resolution". Come on!
I'm on Dish Network, got plenty of channels and still have to search to find anything worth watching half the time.
Soooooo....when my TV dies I'll just pull my Dish account and call it quits. It just seems a strech to be forced to pay more for something I don't need (high definition) to watch something for entertainment.
Something like 3D or 4D might be worth a price increase in the receiver.
Wonderful. Now if only the FCC would actually enforce their radio regulations and clean up the land mobile mess.
If....
If my aunt had balls she would be my uncle.
The unix.com site has a nice looking OS X theme and the apple logo all over it.
Is is me or does this seem to scream at Apple "bring it on!" I kind of wonder if they have been out looking for legal trouble.
Not trolling, just asking.
"It's been a good four year run for them."
Duuuuuh....obviously not too good. A good run would have enabled them to pay their bills and be in a position to keep going.
"dont bother. anything below a p-66 will be painfully slow."
Absolutely 100% NOT true! I am running several systems that are 386 and 486 based. I have one system that is a 386DX-40MHz which is running an email to alphanumeric paging gateway and doing some automated housekeeping on a network and the damn thing hums right along.
I wouldn't want to use X on a 386, that's for sure. And on a 486 I would think twice about it, and run a very lite window manager (not KDE). But then again there are very few reasons to be running X anyway except for a desktop client.
Actually it is not impossible to generate those records for RF broadcasters. For many years they have been required to keep station logs. One of the things they log is every song played.
In the old days, when my father ran a radio station, they would simply write down the artist and song on the log sheet as they cued the record. Oh, and the records were provided free of charge by the music companies as part of the service. These days the music comes in electronic form and is logged just as it would be for an internet broadcaster.
Those logs are then used to calculate how much money the station needs to pay the music service. If I remember correctly the pricing wasn't the same for all songs. Certain songs ("hits") cost the station more but that is ok because the theory is that the more hits you play the more listeners you have. The more listeners you have the more advertising you sell and the better the bottom line.
This is one reason that college stations and the like don't play popular music. The stuff they play doesn't get much airplay so it's supposed to be cheap or free.
At least that's the way I remember it, and I do know that generating the records has become easier.
How dare you take an anti-union/anti-socialist view. This is Slashdot after all! For shame.
"The word for it is "democracy". The wishes of the 2 million Nevada residents are overriden by the wishes of the 279 million residents in other states."
And that would be fine if Nevada was part of a demorcracy. It is not. Minor point.
But you are correct that the lives of those two million Nevadans are worthless, null and void. The lives and quality of life of those other 279 million are wothh more because they are a majority. As a majority they have full moral, ethical, and legal right to ruin the area in which those piddley 2 million live.
"New Jersey has 5 times Nevada's population, and in a much smaller and more valuable area of land as well. The potential damage and loss of life that would occur due to a nuclear accident in NJ is far greater than that in NV. This is why Nevada was chosen in the first palce."
Of course their land is more valuable, they don't have nuclear waste burried there!
Based upon your logic I don't see why we don't ship the waste to someplace like Iraq. They have a lot of wide open space and with far less potential for damage than even Nevada. Plus we don't like them and they aren't even in our country. We could all vote on it and do it. We can kick their ass, so what's the problem?
No, if places like NYC, LA, and New Jersey need all this power then they should generate it themselves and take care of their own byproducts. It's called responsibility for your own actions.
Meanwhile people crowd into places like LA where the land won't support that many people and they have to import water and power and export the waste products. It's bullshit, and while it may be fair by the rules of the federal government, it still does not make it morally right.
I see, so if one state doesn't want something but the other 49 gang up on them, then they're gonna get it. What a wonderful system we have.
Interesting too that Nevada doesn't have any commercial reactors, yet they get stuck with the waste. In fact the bulk of the nuclear material and programs within the state are federal.
Yup, the waste has to go somewhere. So in this case someone shits in New Jersey and it ends up in Nevada's back yard.
Oh yeah, watch that post get modded down just because I said something that the enviromentalist wackos don't like. Happens every time.
Why is this being posted as science when it's actually science fiction? Anyone who's really in that part of the science business knows that it would take a minimum of 100 years before we could leave earth for new in any signifigant numbers. Even then those numbers wouldn't be large enough to make an impact......
If you believe that enviromentalist wacko crap.
No, here again we see "enviromentalists" pulling at peoples emotions. If they were really concerned about the enviroment they would use some actual science and come up with some real answers.
Sorry but camping in trees, jumping nude in front of logging trucks, or posting sci-fi stories on the internet doesn't make anyone appear knowlegable. It certainly doesn't do anything towards presenting a solution to whatever you think the problem is.
I can imagine a rewrite of Joe's garage. Joe's just been released from prison and starts to play a guitar riff in his head because music is illegal. But then the thought police come take him back to jail because the guitar riff he was playing wasn't his, he didn't pay a royalty, and a telepath nearby could have read his mind.
I had to read what I posted several times and still I don't see where I claimed that Freon wasn't harmful to the enviroment. Actually I'm sure it was in some way.
What I said was that it was not a disaster. Floods, volcano eruptions, earthquakes, airplanes crashing into buildings.....these things are disasters.
If you're really wondering how it saved lives, take the time to do a little research into how Freon was used. Go visit an HVAC technician. Drop an email to Dupont. Talk to a doctor. But at least take the time to find out and don't let the enviromental extremests rule your thinking with their emotional plays.
True, maybe Freon wasn't the best thing in the long run. Same with R12, it was just as bad. But until we knew better it was used for good, not evil.
I a just so sick and fucking tired of comments like that being thrown into what should be reported as news. Yes, Microsoft sucks because of their strong arm tactics and lack of quality in their products. But that bit about Freon being a "disaster" had no place in the story, it was simply an enviromental wacko dig and had no place in the story.
"...we all know what a disaster the actual chemical Freon was."
Big assumption there cuz I don't know about any disaster. I do know that Freon had some very important uses in refrigeration and electronics which saved lives and improved the quality of life for millions.
How about just reporting the news without the emotional enviromental bullshit panic phrases. Thanks.
You're right, the calls don't stop. But they are less frequent and, when the calls come, you can be pretty confident that you can correct the problem. My (limited) experience with Windows is that when the calls come you often can't get to the source of the problem and the user just has to live with it because "that's the way Windows is".
I love calls like "How do I do X" and "How do I view this file I downloaded" because those are the kinds of questions asked by interested people who want to learn. They pay, I teach, they learn, we're all happy.
Sounds like you've had a NASTY installation experience. I can honestly say I've never had anything that bad before and I've setup (guessing here) maybe 50 Linux desktop machines for non-geeks.
Seriously I would suggest you try again with another distro (Mandrake is amazingly easy and consistant to install).
I've got some friends who support Windows users and they will agree that they are 4 or 5 times more busy than I with calls for help after they've setup a machine. No, Windows users don't just reboot and carry on. They reboot and swear in frustration, especially when they lose important data because of some silly failure.
All I can say is that it's working pretty well for me. I'm not a programmer, and I'm dumb as a box of rocks, but I am able to cobble together some script. So some folks have me write them simple scripts for simple things and that keeps me in beer money. Other folks aren't so lazy and really do want to learn to do it for themselves. So I show them how to get started poking around in KDE and a bit of command line stuff and answer any questions that come up for them. That keeps me in chips and burgers which I wash down with the beer.
I'm not getting rich, but I am gaining some weight.
It's not so bad really. You would be suprised at how many people have computers just to do email or surf the web and dont do anything else with them.
How truely sad it is to see the Boy Scouts of America involved in something like this.