MS has certainly gotten fat lazy with its monopoly. But it still has huge cash reserves adn hundreds of talented programmers that could be tasked with anything
Microsoft's biggest problem now is that they're fighting a multi-front war. It's Microsoft vs. Everybody else (including users). At this rate, they're destined to become nothing more than another corporate giant instead of THE corporate giant.
And Sun has corporate culture to swim against. They've been a quality hardware/software company for some time. Low volume, high prices. In Linux land, there's a mindset that "I'm not going to pay a lot for this WHATEVER - otherwise I'd be sticking with MS!"
Sun has been pretty smart here. They've introduced a pricing model that's so tempting on the outset that it's sure to snag a large number of companies. $100 per employee, per year. And you can stop your support contracts at any time and still keep all the stuff. That's a pretty tempting offer, even when competing against Microsoft's deep "lock-in" discounts.
IMHO, a number of incredible products would be unleased if we had a decent fiber backbone coupled with WAP.
Wouldn't all those cables to the cell phones get a bit tangled up?;-P Seriously though, I don't think WAP is going anywhere. Instead, you'll see small devices get more powerful and begin to deal with real content. WAP has very little future, IMHO.
First they built "low-end" workstations. They managed to make a killing at this. Eventually PCs started eating their lunch. So they "reinvented" themselves as a server provider. They did quite well at this until PCs started threatening that market. Then they "reinvented" themselves as a complete solutions company. They did quite well at this until PCs went 64bit.
Now they are "reinventing" themselves as a Desktop provider. They are honestly working to produce one of the most competitive desktops on the market. My current testing of their desktop shows that they still have a little ways to go, but for a first release they've done pretty well. When you combine in the publicity their Looking Glass technology is bringing them with the technologies that Sun is obtaining from Microsoft (I've been told that the next version of StarOffice will have Access support), they are truly posed to begin doing to Microsoft what Microsoft did to them: Eat away from the bottom up.
Well, I'm 6'2" so we do make quite a pair. But she's not *that* short. Women are just generally shorter than men, and many of todays women easily fall under the 5 foot mark. As a result, I find the idea of anyone being under 4'11" being classified as a midget suspect. Perhaps for men, but definitely not for women.
Well, she is 4'6", but she only weighs 120 lb. She *enjoys* running every morning, and she actually loses weight after each kid! I'd say more, but she'd probably kill me if she ever found out.:-)
First you need to have Linux challenging Windows on the desktop in a big way. Its not happening.
The parent did not mention Linux. Considering that OpenOffice works great on Windows (and is probably its most popular platform), putting words into the parent's mouth is rather rude.
Yeah, they are late to the party, but they do offer a lot and are not asking for an arm and a leg.
Agreed. About a year ago, my wife asked me if there was any way to make Word stop crashing. I sheepishly suggested that she could try OpenOffice. To be perfectly honest, I didn't think she'd go for it. But I installed it and she has been extremely happy with it ever since. Her approval has served as an example for myself. I now use OpenOffice on all my computers, including my work machine. Somehow, it just ends up feeling like a more pleasant experience than MS Office.
Even my parents and (numerous) siblings have converted over to OpenOffice. Sun really seems to have hit the nail on the head.
I won't argue that Sun is very much associated with server rooms. They are making progress though. By supporting the GNOME project, they've been slowly building a desktop that is actually quite pleasant to use (on Solaris at least). Combined with their SunRay Thin Clients, they've been able to convince many a company to deploy Sun Desktops instead of Citrix or Windows desktops. Now with their JDS maneuver, they are positioning themselves to meet the Desktop market head on.
This is where their deal with Microsoft works in their favor. I was just speaking with JDS project engineers the other day (I love how Sun hosts these open chats) and they claimed that they are working on adding Microsoft Access compatibility to future versions of StarOffice. If that's not an exaggerated statement, that's a major coup for Sun!
But all the Linux people are telling me the holy grail for Linux will be when Windows developers can use the Wine libraries to quickly port their apps to Linux.
I hardly consider myself a zealot. Actually, I tend to dislike Linux machines. My post was a matter of practicality. By using the WINE libs, Corel delivered a product that was substandard compared to the Windows version. Things that hadn't quite been worked out in WINE simply didn't work (or didn't work right).
That actually wouldn't have been so bad, but Corel then failed to follow up. They had an opportunity to slowly migrate their Office Suite and build Desktop functionality into Linux. Instead, they sat on it. It simply never went *anywhere*. And so, Corel did a meager amount of work and got a meager return. I'm sure that they were expecting that everyone would suddenly hail them as the next Microsoft for their "efforts", but the truth was that their product was only mildly competitive in the market. It wasn't long before other Linux distros passed them up, and StarOffice (pre-Sun) began to make headway on Office compatibility.
I can really feel Sun's market share with respect to the desktop/workstation. Other than on Slashdot, no one ever heard of 'em...
Bullshit. Anyone who works in Corporate technology who *doesn't* know about Sun isn't doing their jobs. Now Sun has managed to make itself a household name with things like Java, OpenOffice/StarOffice, and Java Desktop Systems sold by Walmart. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a computer user who hasn't at least *heard* of Sun.
Corel had their chance back when they built Corel Linux. But instead of putting the *work* into making native code, improving Linux, and making the experience overall better, they simply used the WINE libs to "port" their same old WordPerfect Suite then heaped it on top of an existing Linux distro. In other words, they did the least work possible and saw the least return. Sun OTOH has put a lot of money and effort into OpenOffice/StarOffice, GNOME, and their new Java Desktop System. This has been allowing Sun to maintain the Desktop/Workstation market while their competitors (HP, IBM, and SGI - poor saps) flounder in the Unix market.
I think you might be somewhat confused. The question was not why they shaped it like a sphere, but rather why they didn't use a rigid airship instead of a blimp. Someone stated that the biggest problem is fuel, and then expanded on that answer.
They were Zeppelins/Dirigibles. To be perfectly honest, I don't understand why they're trying to build giant balloons instead of rigid airships. Rigid airships are easier to engineer, have better compartmentalizing/redundancy, and can be easily built to massive proportions. Instead we'd rather have a single inflatable bag the size of the Empire State Building.
Am I the only one who's a little surprised by their choice?
Based on what we *know*, radiation is semi-cumulative. When the radiation hits your body, it can cause various forms of damage. A healthy body will attempt to repair this damage as if it were caused by normal background radiation. However, your body only has so much ability to repair. Thus a lot of radiation in a short time can have a cumulative effect. But low doses over long periods of time should have no discernible effect.
You also need to define what type of radiation you're talking about. e.g.:
Alpha - Only dangerous if emitted internally or through skin breaks Beta - Similar to Alpha, but with more penetrating power. Basically an unfocused electron beam. A certain amount of voltaic pressure is required to penetrate the skin externally. Gamma & X-Ray - High penetration power, more dangerous externally. Neutron - Better hope you have good life insurance, because parts are going to start disappearing.
Gamma and X-Ray are what's known as "cosmic rays" because they are prevalent in background radiation. Alpha and Beta don't usually occur naturally. Neutron radiation is really only something you'd find at the heart of a reactor.
And that is your 10 minute science lesson for today.:-)
Radiation levels are currently lower than the background radiation in Norway. The real problem is the insides of buildings which still contain trapped radioisotopes. Also, the nearby groundwater has a higher level of radioisotope contamination than normal. You get some radioisotopes in your food and drink all the time. The issue is that a higher dose of these isotopes you get, the higher your risk of cancer.
And comparing the stuff from a power plant to the stuff from a nuke is kind of stupid. Nukes are meant to make the biggest BOOM possible. They try to use the least materials to do it, and the force required tends to break the materials down into fairly non-dangerous stuff.
Found the old homepage. I believe that they used to have EnZIP.com. None of the download links on the old page appear to work. If you want a copy, try searching around the Internet. I've found mirrors the download files in the past.
I use a great little program called EnZIP. Unfortunately, it seems to no longer be supported. It was really a great alternative to WinZIP. Anyone know what happened? Did the author get tired of it?
Thanks for the info, but I already knew that. (I'd stated it farther up the thread.) The gentlement I replied to was under the mistaken impression that Word Count had always been easily accessable under a "Tools" menu item. I was merely correcting his mistaken believe.
In office 2003, he doesn't come back. I even tried hitting F1 to see what would happen, and I got a help sidebar.
That was my point. Microsoft added this "feature" in later Office2K service packs to convince you to upgrade to Office2K3. The only way around it is to not install Clippy in the first place. (Something I didn't have a choice about on my work machine.)
Yes? The mere idea of converting tons of documents that are seen as "business assets" to a platform that may fail them (no matter how proven) is a difficult concept for any IT manager to wrestle with. At the end of the day he just says, "no one ever got fired for buying Microsoft".
Slashdot Mirror
MS has certainly gotten fat lazy with its monopoly. But it still has huge cash reserves adn hundreds of talented programmers that could be tasked with anything
;-P Seriously though, I don't think WAP is going anywhere. Instead, you'll see small devices get more powerful and begin to deal with real content. WAP has very little future, IMHO.
Microsoft's biggest problem now is that they're fighting a multi-front war. It's Microsoft vs. Everybody else (including users). At this rate, they're destined to become nothing more than another corporate giant instead of THE corporate giant.
And Sun has corporate culture to swim against. They've been a quality hardware/software company for some time. Low volume, high prices. In Linux land, there's a mindset that "I'm not going to pay a lot for this WHATEVER - otherwise I'd be sticking with MS!"
Sun has been pretty smart here. They've introduced a pricing model that's so tempting on the outset that it's sure to snag a large number of companies. $100 per employee, per year. And you can stop your support contracts at any time and still keep all the stuff. That's a pretty tempting offer, even when competing against Microsoft's deep "lock-in" discounts.
IMHO, a number of incredible products would be unleased if we had a decent fiber backbone coupled with WAP.
Wouldn't all those cables to the cell phones get a bit tangled up?
Free and Open are not in Sun's Vocabulary
OpenWindows, OpenOffice, OpenFirmware... I think they've got Open down pretty well. Can't speak to "Free".
Let's take a look at Sun history:
First they built "low-end" workstations. They managed to make a killing at this. Eventually PCs started eating their lunch. So they "reinvented" themselves as a server provider. They did quite well at this until PCs started threatening that market. Then they "reinvented" themselves as a complete solutions company. They did quite well at this until PCs went 64bit.
Now they are "reinventing" themselves as a Desktop provider. They are honestly working to produce one of the most competitive desktops on the market. My current testing of their desktop shows that they still have a little ways to go, but for a first release they've done pretty well. When you combine in the publicity their Looking Glass technology is bringing them with the technologies that Sun is obtaining from Microsoft (I've been told that the next version of StarOffice will have Access support), they are truly posed to begin doing to Microsoft what Microsoft did to them: Eat away from the bottom up.
Ok, the parent post confused me. I rechecked. She's 5'6". Doh!
:-(
Sometimes it really sucks being such an easily confused individual.
Well, I'm 6'2" so we do make quite a pair. But she's not *that* short. Women are just generally shorter than men, and many of todays women easily fall under the 5 foot mark. As a result, I find the idea of anyone being under 4'11" being classified as a midget suspect. Perhaps for men, but definitely not for women.
Well, she is 4'6", but she only weighs 120 lb. She *enjoys* running every morning, and she actually loses weight after each kid! I'd say more, but she'd probably kill me if she ever found out. :-)
My (extremely attractive) wife might have a thing or two to say about that... ;-)
I was on a business trip to Chicago - didn't see any out there (though maybe someone who lives there might have had more luck).
I'm in Chicago. I won thrice. However, they were all 1 liter bottles. I haven't seen any 16 oz bottles with the iTunes promotion.
Well, I redeemed about 3 songs myself. I guess the rest of the Pespi drinkers just couldn't figure out what iTunes was.
*shrug*
(P.S. I'm really a Coke drinker, but after getting a free iTunes song on a Pepsi from a Pizza place, I just couldn't resist trying a few more times.)
First you need to have Linux challenging Windows on the desktop in a big way. Its not happening.
The parent did not mention Linux. Considering that OpenOffice works great on Windows (and is probably its most popular platform), putting words into the parent's mouth is rather rude.
Yeah, they are late to the party, but they do offer a lot and are not asking for an arm and a leg.
Agreed. About a year ago, my wife asked me if there was any way to make Word stop crashing. I sheepishly suggested that she could try OpenOffice. To be perfectly honest, I didn't think she'd go for it. But I installed it and she has been extremely happy with it ever since. Her approval has served as an example for myself. I now use OpenOffice on all my computers, including my work machine. Somehow, it just ends up feeling like a more pleasant experience than MS Office.
Even my parents and (numerous) siblings have converted over to OpenOffice. Sun really seems to have hit the nail on the head.
I won't argue that Sun is very much associated with server rooms. They are making progress though. By supporting the GNOME project, they've been slowly building a desktop that is actually quite pleasant to use (on Solaris at least). Combined with their SunRay Thin Clients, they've been able to convince many a company to deploy Sun Desktops instead of Citrix or Windows desktops. Now with their JDS maneuver, they are positioning themselves to meet the Desktop market head on.
This is where their deal with Microsoft works in their favor. I was just speaking with JDS project engineers the other day (I love how Sun hosts these open chats) and they claimed that they are working on adding Microsoft Access compatibility to future versions of StarOffice. If that's not an exaggerated statement, that's a major coup for Sun!
But all the Linux people are telling me the holy grail for Linux will be when Windows developers can use the Wine libraries to quickly port their apps to Linux.
I hardly consider myself a zealot. Actually, I tend to dislike Linux machines. My post was a matter of practicality. By using the WINE libs, Corel delivered a product that was substandard compared to the Windows version. Things that hadn't quite been worked out in WINE simply didn't work (or didn't work right).
That actually wouldn't have been so bad, but Corel then failed to follow up. They had an opportunity to slowly migrate their Office Suite and build Desktop functionality into Linux. Instead, they sat on it. It simply never went *anywhere*. And so, Corel did a meager amount of work and got a meager return. I'm sure that they were expecting that everyone would suddenly hail them as the next Microsoft for their "efforts", but the truth was that their product was only mildly competitive in the market. It wasn't long before other Linux distros passed them up, and StarOffice (pre-Sun) began to make headway on Office compatibility.
I can really feel Sun's market share with respect to the desktop/workstation. Other than on Slashdot, no one ever heard of 'em...
Bullshit. Anyone who works in Corporate technology who *doesn't* know about Sun isn't doing their jobs. Now Sun has managed to make itself a household name with things like Java, OpenOffice/StarOffice, and Java Desktop Systems sold by Walmart. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a computer user who hasn't at least *heard* of Sun.
Mod parent up.
Corel had their chance back when they built Corel Linux. But instead of putting the *work* into making native code, improving Linux, and making the experience overall better, they simply used the WINE libs to "port" their same old WordPerfect Suite then heaped it on top of an existing Linux distro. In other words, they did the least work possible and saw the least return. Sun OTOH has put a lot of money and effort into OpenOffice/StarOffice, GNOME, and their new Java Desktop System. This has been allowing Sun to maintain the Desktop/Workstation market while their competitors (HP, IBM, and SGI - poor saps) flounder in the Unix market.
And what happens when you stop in the closed lane - then they suddenly have you surrounded because some worker has a really twisted sense of humour?
I'd say that it would then be a good time to make like a Bond movie.
"Hang on to your hat Martha! It's going to be a bumpy ride. YEEEHAAA!!!"
I think you might be somewhat confused. The question was not why they shaped it like a sphere, but rather why they didn't use a rigid airship instead of a blimp. Someone stated that the biggest problem is fuel, and then expanded on that answer.
Fuel
Would you be so kind as to expand on that? Perhaps I'm being dense, but I'm not sure how the fuel requirements would differ that much.
They were Zeppelins/Dirigibles. To be perfectly honest, I don't understand why they're trying to build giant balloons instead of rigid airships. Rigid airships are easier to engineer, have better compartmentalizing/redundancy, and can be easily built to massive proportions. Instead we'd rather have a single inflatable bag the size of the Empire State Building.
Am I the only one who's a little surprised by their choice?
Based on what we *know*, radiation is semi-cumulative. When the radiation hits your body, it can cause various forms of damage. A healthy body will attempt to repair this damage as if it were caused by normal background radiation. However, your body only has so much ability to repair. Thus a lot of radiation in a short time can have a cumulative effect. But low doses over long periods of time should have no discernible effect.
:-)
You also need to define what type of radiation you're talking about. e.g.:
Alpha - Only dangerous if emitted internally or through skin breaks
Beta - Similar to Alpha, but with more penetrating power. Basically an unfocused electron beam. A certain amount of voltaic pressure is required to penetrate the skin externally.
Gamma & X-Ray - High penetration power, more dangerous externally.
Neutron - Better hope you have good life insurance, because parts are going to start disappearing.
Gamma and X-Ray are what's known as "cosmic rays" because they are prevalent in background radiation. Alpha and Beta don't usually occur naturally. Neutron radiation is really only something you'd find at the heart of a reactor.
And that is your 10 minute science lesson for today.
Radiation levels are currently lower than the background radiation in Norway. The real problem is the insides of buildings which still contain trapped radioisotopes. Also, the nearby groundwater has a higher level of radioisotope contamination than normal. You get some radioisotopes in your food and drink all the time. The issue is that a higher dose of these isotopes you get, the higher your risk of cancer.
And comparing the stuff from a power plant to the stuff from a nuke is kind of stupid. Nukes are meant to make the biggest BOOM possible. They try to use the least materials to do it, and the force required tends to break the materials down into fairly non-dangerous stuff.
Found the old homepage. I believe that they used to have EnZIP.com. None of the download links on the old page appear to work. If you want a copy, try searching around the Internet. I've found mirrors the download files in the past.
I use a great little program called EnZIP. Unfortunately, it seems to no longer be supported. It was really a great alternative to WinZIP. Anyone know what happened? Did the author get tired of it?
Thanks for the info, but I already knew that. (I'd stated it farther up the thread.) The gentlement I replied to was under the mistaken impression that Word Count had always been easily accessable under a "Tools" menu item. I was merely correcting his mistaken believe.
:-)
Again, thanks for trying to be helpful.
In office 2003, he doesn't come back. I even tried hitting F1 to see what would happen, and I got a help sidebar.
That was my point. Microsoft added this "feature" in later Office2K service packs to convince you to upgrade to Office2K3. The only way around it is to not install Clippy in the first place. (Something I didn't have a choice about on my work machine.)
So businesses throw good money after bad?
Yes? The mere idea of converting tons of documents that are seen as "business assets" to a platform that may fail them (no matter how proven) is a difficult concept for any IT manager to wrestle with. At the end of the day he just says, "no one ever got fired for buying Microsoft".