Well,you obviously haven't been looking at your "Designed for Windows 2000" sticker on all the OEM boxen. I mean, really, Dell's case screws are probably XP compliant. ugh.
I'm not the admin. That's the problem? Contractors aren't allowed to know certain things about the network; I'm sure plenty of people have that problem.
Sure, we all want to build our massively customized kernels for server use, etc. etc.
Take 2 boxes, one running 2.2, one running 2.4. Throw KDE on there, and I am willing to bet that the average Aunt Tillie can't tell the difference which one is faster/better.
The kernel as packaged by distros does a good enough job of running the typical desktop system that Aunt Tillie uses to browse the web. Leave the custom build stuff for the experts.
I find that I prefer the Gnome apps (Evolution, Galeon), but I prefer KDE as whole more. They are both pretty slow IMO. Konqueror is a great filemanager and that alone keeps me in KDE.
So I just plop the Gnome app icon in my KDE taskbar and let 'er rip. The only problem is a consistent cut and paste between Mozilla, Konq, and everything else, so I usually use the middle mouse button to copy and paste.
Heh, some of these are funny:
3) Sensible business plans where everyone does NOT get $2000 chairs.
You're right, I'm sitting in a shitty chair, but then again, there are plenty of brand new HP Laserjets sitting here, one on each desk connected with parallel cables, non-networked and wasting away. Add those up. Waste is waste, regardless of sector. And that's just one example. You would not believe what the government pays for for somethings (and I don't mean the '$400 wrench' that is commonly referred.)
4) You actually have to work rather than just hype vapor. I've met some of the laziest people on the planet in the government. I've also met some of the smartest and hardest working. Once again, a disease that doesn't discriminate.
7) MCSEs don't count as degrees in this line of work.
This one is absurd. MCSE chest pounding is rampant throughout the entire industry. If you don't think some government worker is riding this one for what its worth then you're being idealistic.
Working for the government is a double-edge sword where I work. I'm also a contractor working at a government facility.
At first, I did it our of desperation, since I got out of the Army last August, and there were serious hiring freezes in effect. "Infantry Platoon Leader" doesn't garner accolades with normal businesses.
Government work was a no-brainer for me, I had the clearance already, all I had to do is basically show up. Yes, I have to wear slacks and shirts with collars on them, but all in all, not to bad a situation, considering where the economy is.
My problem is lack of challenge. Everything is pretty backwards here. Users are expected to backup and install their own software, and print/sharing is basically all we have, but that doesn't matter, because God knows where the hell everything is anyway. Desktops and Laptops that come with Win2k are immediately downgraded to Windows 98 first edition, because it takes a LONG TIME to get anything approved. Every piece of software and hardware that we buy has to go through 3 comittees before approval. (Yep, even that printer cable).
We're running some sort of hybrid Novel 3.x network with some hastily thrown together login scripts, 10 Exchange servers that go down all the time (I believe it's 5.5 they are running), and some Computer Associates stuff that has yet to do anything. Some people even use Ghost to install client software, but only certain people are 'authorized', so all in all, the Dell Desktops (not allowed to buy anything else) are the default install, complete with AOL icons and everything. The typical 'security bulletin' is "Everyone go to Windows Update."
Of course, the mail system is clogged by the 'normal' US Army 300MB Powerpoint presentation that needs to be forwarded to multiple people, multiple times, at least three times a day. That's always great over our antiquated network.
What I don't know is if this is a typical situation in corporate America. I know other government agencies are more advanced, but its definately not us. I would like to know, because I'm pretty darn sure that Outlook shared calendars and Powerpoint "collaboration" using file sharing is considered enterprise level.
If that's the ONE great thing about working for the government, there's never a shortage of stuff to do.
I think this kind of infighting is great, as long as it doesn't get out of control.
We get to see arguments and competing subsections of the kernel - this is SO one of the most underrated benefits of open source. Users of some other OS's don't have this benefit. I am not a programmer, so to me, I don't really understand/care the benefits of different VM systems, but I know that some other, smarter people do, and they're all trying to figure out the best way to do it, and that's good enough for me.
I say let them go at it, let the best code win - it can only help us. And who cares how MS construes this, I'd like to see them open up their development model and see what kind of conflicts they are having.
OT - but kerneltrap.org has a good interview with Alan Cox today....
You know, you can install 2.4 on any debian box. Sure, it's not as easy as installing an rpm, but I'd rather install a new kernel by hand than try to fix RPM Hell.
Even better, those of us that supervise Windows users can simply go in there and have 'save as.rtf' set as a default. They won't even notice, they always just click the icon anyway.
about the trials and tribulations of being an Open Source person within a company that hasn't yet fully grasped the concept, and how she goes about trying to change that.
Geez Robin, you act like she's the only one, aren't most of us in that boat? I would guess that not all of us work with OSS-knowledgeable PHBs. They're learning slowly, but it takes time.
The demand is there, but I think there are people who would rather go through a root canal than put it with all the BS associated with getting DSL or cable installed.
DSL, with its ridiculously long install wait time, crappy PPPoE platform (In other words, shell out another $100 for a router that will do it for you so all your machines can have a 'normal' connection), and a general lack of value (+$15 for a static IP? Get real Ameritech)
On the other hand you have cable, which @home and all their partners managed to bumble enough to make people stay away from cable for a LONG time.
The content is THERE, these pundits are screaming that there is no killer app for broadband, as if having it will make things easier for users.
Wow, I didn't know we could delete our own posts, I guess I can go back and remove all my "In 10 years, we will be vindicated, we'll all be running OS/2 and Microsoft will not exist!" posts. Heh.
Didn't search USENET as much before Google.
on
How Google Saved USENET
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Google Groups is awesome, especially when searching for some obscure piece of hardware advice or settings.
I don't have to worry about getting and setting up a news client, and it's just one tab over from my default search engine.
Google did save USENET for me - though I never post, searching through all the linux and comp newsgroups is usually faster than looking up a HOWTO.
Agreed, even the 'licensed' players are crap. I made the mistake of throwing my Episode I DVD in my DVD player on my WinXP box. Naturally, some crap Intervideo or whatever is installed and all of a sudden, I can't play any DVDs on my Windows box, and naturally, it crashes and as usual, and then throws some bullshit icon in the system tray.
Of course, it STILL wouldn't let me goto the starwars.com link and get the web content 'exclusively for DVD owners.' So I had to get the trailer through Morpheus, go figure.
I'm sick of the failed promise of DVD, special 2-disc versions that cost more and could easily fit one one side, one disc, crappy discs without 5.1, and and all this exclusive web content that doesn't work.
This is great and dandy and all, but which distro's are going to pay attention to this? Anyone have a link as to the state of LSB-compliance for the major distros?
I was half expecting him to mention Eazel and Nautilus as a perfect example of what he's talking about, but I guess he missed that. Heh.
I feel his pain, there are some really old programs that I would love to play around with now. Anyone remember Geos? I used to run it on my 286 and was years ahead of its time....
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Well,you obviously haven't been looking at your "Designed for Windows 2000" sticker on all the OEM boxen. I mean, really, Dell's case screws are probably XP compliant. ugh.
I don't think they would risk violating the GPL, considering how vocal the fallout of that would be.
Though, a closed source desktop running on the GPL stuff would be a reasonably good guess, assuming the rumor is true to begin with.
or maybe if AOL decided to close up parts of Red Hat, I'm sure some of the more notable hackers would move on to other companies.
I'm not the admin. That's the problem? Contractors aren't allowed to know certain things about the network; I'm sure plenty of people have that problem.
Disabling services and recompiling kernels are two very different things. I can turn off my services in Linux too.
Now if you could go into the control panel and unclick the "Run GUI on startup" then your point would be valid.
Sure, we all want to build our massively customized kernels for server use, etc. etc.
Take 2 boxes, one running 2.2, one running 2.4. Throw KDE on there, and I am willing to bet that the average Aunt Tillie can't tell the difference which one is faster/better.
The kernel as packaged by distros does a good enough job of running the typical desktop system that Aunt Tillie uses to browse the web. Leave the custom build stuff for the experts.
At the risk of starting a monster flamewar:
I find that I prefer the Gnome apps (Evolution, Galeon), but I prefer KDE as whole more. They are both pretty slow IMO. Konqueror is a great filemanager and that alone keeps me in KDE.
So I just plop the Gnome app icon in my KDE taskbar and let 'er rip. The only problem is a consistent cut and paste between Mozilla, Konq, and everything else, so I usually use the middle mouse button to copy and paste.
Looks good in the screenshots. I absolutely abhor the current gnomecc, this looks like a step in the right direction.
Can't wait to try it.
Heh, some of these are funny:
3) Sensible business plans where everyone does NOT get $2000 chairs.
You're right, I'm sitting in a shitty chair, but then again, there are plenty of brand new HP Laserjets sitting here, one on each desk connected with parallel cables, non-networked and wasting away. Add those up. Waste is waste, regardless of sector. And that's just one example. You would not believe what the government pays for for somethings (and I don't mean the '$400 wrench' that is commonly referred.)
4) You actually have to work rather than just hype vapor.
I've met some of the laziest people on the planet in the government. I've also met some of the smartest and hardest working. Once again, a disease that doesn't discriminate.
7) MCSEs don't count as degrees in this line of work.
This one is absurd. MCSE chest pounding is rampant throughout the entire industry. If you don't think some government worker is riding this one for what its worth then you're being idealistic.
Working for the government is a double-edge sword where I work. I'm also a contractor working at a government facility.
At first, I did it our of desperation, since I got out of the Army last August, and there were serious hiring freezes in effect. "Infantry Platoon Leader" doesn't garner accolades with normal businesses.
Government work was a no-brainer for me, I had the clearance already, all I had to do is basically show up. Yes, I have to wear slacks and shirts with collars on them, but all in all, not to bad a situation, considering where the economy is.
My problem is lack of challenge. Everything is pretty backwards here. Users are expected to backup and install their own software, and print/sharing is basically all we have, but that doesn't matter, because God knows where the hell everything is anyway. Desktops and Laptops that come with Win2k are immediately downgraded to Windows 98 first edition, because it takes a LONG TIME to get anything approved. Every piece of software and hardware that we buy has to go through 3 comittees before approval. (Yep, even that printer cable).
We're running some sort of hybrid Novel 3.x network with some hastily thrown together login scripts, 10 Exchange servers that go down all the time (I believe it's 5.5 they are running), and some Computer Associates stuff that has yet to do anything. Some people even use Ghost to install client software, but only certain people are 'authorized', so all in all, the Dell Desktops (not allowed to buy anything else) are the default install, complete with AOL icons and everything. The typical 'security bulletin' is "Everyone go to Windows Update."
Of course, the mail system is clogged by the 'normal' US Army 300MB Powerpoint presentation that needs to be forwarded to multiple people, multiple times, at least three times a day. That's always great over our antiquated network.
What I don't know is if this is a typical situation in corporate America. I know other government agencies are more advanced, but its definately not us. I would like to know, because I'm pretty darn sure that Outlook shared calendars and Powerpoint "collaboration" using file sharing is considered enterprise level.
If that's the ONE great thing about working for the government, there's never a shortage of stuff to do.
I think this kind of infighting is great, as long as it doesn't get out of control.
We get to see arguments and competing subsections of the kernel - this is SO one of the most underrated benefits of open source. Users of some other OS's don't have this benefit. I am not a programmer, so to me, I don't really understand/care the benefits of different VM systems, but I know that some other, smarter people do, and they're all trying to figure out the best way to do it, and that's good enough for me.
I say let them go at it, let the best code win - it can only help us. And who cares how MS construes this, I'd like to see them open up their development model and see what kind of conflicts they are having.
OT - but kerneltrap.org has a good interview with Alan Cox today....
Wow, that is awesome, thanks for pointing it out. Is there something like this for Woody?
You know, you can install 2.4 on any debian box. Sure, it's not as easy as installing an rpm, but I'd rather install a new kernel by hand than try to fix RPM Hell.
check debianplanet.org for thee thread, i believe most of the libpng issues have been taken care of.
Even better, those of us that supervise Windows users can simply go in there and have 'save as .rtf' set as a default. They won't even notice, they always just click the icon anyway.
ok, so in a nutshell, no matter what *nix I use, as long as I have openpkg installed, I can install any package?
In other words, I can burn openpackages to a CD, and install the same packages in BSD, Redhat, and Suse?
about the trials and tribulations of being an Open Source person within a company that hasn't yet fully grasped the concept, and how she goes about trying to change that.
Geez Robin, you act like she's the only one, aren't most of us in that boat? I would guess that not all of us work with OSS-knowledgeable PHBs. They're learning slowly, but it takes time.
The demand is there, but I think there are people who would rather go through a root canal than put it with all the BS associated with getting DSL or cable installed.
DSL, with its ridiculously long install wait time, crappy PPPoE platform (In other words, shell out another $100 for a router that will do it for you so all your machines can have a 'normal' connection), and a general lack of value (+$15 for a static IP? Get real Ameritech)
On the other hand you have cable, which @home and all their partners managed to bumble enough to make people stay away from cable for a LONG time.
The content is THERE, these pundits are screaming that there is no killer app for broadband, as if having it will make things easier for users.
Wow, I didn't know we could delete our own posts, I guess I can go back and remove all my "In 10 years, we will be vindicated, we'll all be running OS/2 and Microsoft will not exist!" posts. Heh.
Google Groups is awesome, especially when searching for some obscure piece of hardware advice or settings.
I don't have to worry about getting and setting up a news client, and it's just one tab over from my default search engine.
Google did save USENET for me - though I never post, searching through all the linux and comp newsgroups is usually faster than looking up a HOWTO.
Nothing but good things from my Toshiba, and my friend loves his Panasonic. And Pioneer? Gimme a break....
Agreed, even the 'licensed' players are crap. I made the mistake of throwing my Episode I DVD in my DVD player on my WinXP box. Naturally, some crap Intervideo or whatever is installed and all of a sudden, I can't play any DVDs on my Windows box, and naturally, it crashes and as usual, and then throws some bullshit icon in the system tray.
Of course, it STILL wouldn't let me goto the starwars.com link and get the web content 'exclusively for DVD owners.' So I had to get the trailer through Morpheus, go figure.
I'm sick of the failed promise of DVD, special 2-disc versions that cost more and could easily fit one one side, one disc, crappy discs without 5.1, and and all this exclusive web content that doesn't work.
This is great and dandy and all, but which distro's are going to pay attention to this? Anyone have a link as to the state of LSB-compliance for the major distros?
I was half expecting him to mention Eazel and Nautilus as a perfect example of what he's talking about, but I guess he missed that. Heh.
I feel his pain, there are some really old programs that I would love to play around with now. Anyone remember Geos? I used to run it on my 286 and was years ahead of its time....
Computer equipment wasn't the only thing that they were extravant on - Imagine the VCs horror when they saw the bills for all those neat ergo chairs.
I don't know about now, but during the peak of the 'dotcom meltdown' one could get some great prices on those Aeron chairs on ebay.