It's one thing if they had products Microsoft couldnt' compete with (ala Quicken), but last I check Microsoft Antispyware was one of the beter ones out there.
The difference is that Money was developed in-house by Microsoft, and it sucked. MS Antispyware came about because they bought one of the best antispyware programs around (Giant) and rebranded it.
If it's cold in the house, just prop the dishwasher door open a bit after the wash cycle to add a bit of heat and humidity to the room, whilst drying the dishes more quickly. If your water heater is at least 140 degrees F (and it should be), the heat dry setting is a waste.
And watch out for those accessories, too. I have a set of Boston Acoustics PC speakers that drew 40 watts continuously, even when turned "off." They've since been put on a power strip.
Would you pay 1c every time you opened Google's continuall-improved word processor?
No. I'm happy with OpenOffice, and despite what Microsoft tries to tell us every other year, word processors have not improved substantially since Office 97, and are certainly not worth the $200 or whatever the hell MS is charging nowadays.
But for services that require work to keep current, such as Google Maps, or hosted apps without a good open-source alternative, I would be happy to pay.
I've heard that about some clamp meters especially. This unit has good reviews from members of the electric vehicle community, and it actually shows power factor as well, so I believe it takes that into account.
I seem to remember reading an article about a person arrested for DUI outside a bar in the US. They were found sleeping in the passenger seat, but the key was turned to the "Run" position (engine not started) so they could run the radio and fan while they slept it off.
We visited London last October (my first trip out of the US.) I was amazed that you could go to any grocery store or drugstore, and many roadside stands, and get an excellent sandwich (not the all-bread-and-lettuce Subway variety, but a REAL sandwich), a bag of chips and a half liter of diet soda for less than the cost of a fast food meal. Also, since you can take the Tube practically anywhere, there's more walking and less driving involved for a good portion of the populace. (We never felt the need for a car the whole trip.)
Contrast that with America, where many technology parks and shopping centers don't even have proper sidewalks, and where the fastest, cheapest food you can get is at McDonalds, and it's no wonder Americans are fat.
If you are truly concerned about what your equipment uses, get a Kill-a-Watt meter. Very easy to use, includes a KWh counter as well as an instant wattage display. You can find it around the 'Net for $27 or less.
Some things I've tested recently:
My PC speakers use 40 watts, even when "turned off". Result: they're on a power strip with a switch.
My HP Laserjet 2100N uses 12-16 watts (depending on the fan), when in Power Saver. Result: it gets turned off when not in use.
My PIII-650 desktop server consumed about 50 watts when idle. Result: replaced it with a Toshiba Tecra PIII-650 (with a broken screen, cheap on eBay), which draws 14 watts when idle.
I also realized that my Powerbook power supply consumes less than 1 watt when plugged in but no laptop is connected, or about 2 watts when the laptop is plugged in and fully charged, so I'm not as concerned about unplugging it anymore.
My next checks: the TV's, older transformer-based clock radios, wall warts and the deep freeze. I will also take running "baseline" checks of my major appliances (fridge, furnace, washer), so I can recheck them once a year and identify when an appliance is running too hard (bad motor bearing, etc.)
Don't you think they could parallel a tiny high-efficiency switching power supply into the inputs, just to supply the standby circuitry? It only needs milliwatts or less; I'd think there might even be an off-the-shelf chip that could do it in one or two parts.
My Powerbook G4 goes through several dozen sleep/resume cycles between patch/reboots. I just close the lid and it sleeps, and when I open the lid, by the time I get my screensaver password entered, it has already reconnected to my WLAN, reconnected to AIM, reconnected all of my SSH shares to my servers and resumed any SFTP transfers, and is downloading my email.
I do miss the option that I had on my Pismo: a removable optical drive that could be replaced with a blank spacesaver insert, floppy drive, ZIP or second battery.
If you have another drive failure after that before replacing the dead drive, you're still running.
Don't most RAID controllers allow you to specify more than one hot-spare? If so, putting in a second or even third hot-spare might be better for a situation where the server isn't monitored 24/7 or might have to go the weekend with a failed drive.
That leads to the question I've been asking my science teachers for decades: if the sun were to suddenly disappear (hypothetically, of course), would the earth continue to follow its orbit for 8 minutes, or would it immediately go flinging off into space?
If Apple is smart, they are working on a port of Wine written to Aqua, that would allow Windows apps to run seamlessly from within OS X and interact with OS X apps. That would certainly fix their 5-year Microsoft Office support problem.
Along the same lines, replacing my FreeBSD/alpha firewall with a WRT54G saved me nearly $8 per month. The 9VDC transformer is cool to the touch, which is a nice change from the hairdryer^WAlpha's power cable, which was warm at a distance.
I had a PIII/650 desktop that I used as a server. Idle with the drive spinning, it consumed about 45 watts. Replaced it with a Toshiba Tecra laptop, also PIII/650, with a broken screen and a 4200 RPM hard drive. Idle consumption went down to 13 watts, and it comes with its own built-in UPS.
Hand lotion. Find a keyboard from a woman in your office who is constantly putting on lotion, and you'll see a waxy brown coating on all the keys, wrist rest and mouse.
What Bill Thompson also fails to point out is that Windows and Linux users are just as smug about security. Ask any random Windows user, and chances are, they're running in an Administrator context, with no (or simple) password, Firewall off, no NAT router, no antivirus software, no antispyware software, no Windows patches and think they are perfectly safe.
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IIRC, MSAV was just Central Point Antivirus rebranded.
The difference is that Money was developed in-house by Microsoft, and it sucked. MS Antispyware came about because they bought one of the best antispyware programs around (Giant) and rebranded it.
If it's cold in the house, just prop the dishwasher door open a bit after the wash cycle to add a bit of heat and humidity to the room, whilst drying the dishes more quickly. If your water heater is at least 140 degrees F (and it should be), the heat dry setting is a waste.
And watch out for those accessories, too. I have a set of Boston Acoustics PC speakers that drew 40 watts continuously, even when turned "off." They've since been put on a power strip.
No. I'm happy with OpenOffice, and despite what Microsoft tries to tell us every other year, word processors have not improved substantially since Office 97, and are certainly not worth the $200 or whatever the hell MS is charging nowadays.
But for services that require work to keep current, such as Google Maps, or hosted apps without a good open-source alternative, I would be happy to pay.
I've heard that about some clamp meters especially. This unit has good reviews from members of the electric vehicle community, and it actually shows power factor as well, so I believe it takes that into account.
I seem to remember reading an article about a person arrested for DUI outside a bar in the US. They were found sleeping in the passenger seat, but the key was turned to the "Run" position (engine not started) so they could run the radio and fan while they slept it off.
Contrast that with America, where many technology parks and shopping centers don't even have proper sidewalks, and where the fastest, cheapest food you can get is at McDonalds, and it's no wonder Americans are fat.
Some things I've tested recently:
My PC speakers use 40 watts, even when "turned off". Result: they're on a power strip with a switch.
My HP Laserjet 2100N uses 12-16 watts (depending on the fan), when in Power Saver. Result: it gets turned off when not in use.
My PIII-650 desktop server consumed about 50 watts when idle. Result: replaced it with a Toshiba Tecra PIII-650 (with a broken screen, cheap on eBay), which draws 14 watts when idle.
I also realized that my Powerbook power supply consumes less than 1 watt when plugged in but no laptop is connected, or about 2 watts when the laptop is plugged in and fully charged, so I'm not as concerned about unplugging it anymore.
My next checks: the TV's, older transformer-based clock radios, wall warts and the deep freeze. I will also take running "baseline" checks of my major appliances (fridge, furnace, washer), so I can recheck them once a year and identify when an appliance is running too hard (bad motor bearing, etc.)
Don't you think they could parallel a tiny high-efficiency switching power supply into the inputs, just to supply the standby circuitry? It only needs milliwatts or less; I'd think there might even be an off-the-shelf chip that could do it in one or two parts.
My Powerbook G4 goes through several dozen sleep/resume cycles between patch/reboots. I just close the lid and it sleeps, and when I open the lid, by the time I get my screensaver password entered, it has already reconnected to my WLAN, reconnected to AIM, reconnected all of my SSH shares to my servers and resumed any SFTP transfers, and is downloading my email.
No. Last season's losers.
So will the EFI still be a Class 2 Relic after they remove it from... you know.
I do miss the option that I had on my Pismo: a removable optical drive that could be replaced with a blank spacesaver insert, floppy drive, ZIP or second battery.
I blame Douglas Adams... and worshipfully await the Coming of the Great White Handkerchief.
Don't most RAID controllers allow you to specify more than one hot-spare? If so, putting in a second or even third hot-spare might be better for a situation where the server isn't monitored 24/7 or might have to go the weekend with a failed drive.
That leads to the question I've been asking my science teachers for decades: if the sun were to suddenly disappear (hypothetically, of course), would the earth continue to follow its orbit for 8 minutes, or would it immediately go flinging off into space?
Yeah, it is great. Why should Adobe have to maintain a separate port if the Windows version can be made to work at full speed on the Mac?
If Apple is smart, they are working on a port of Wine written to Aqua, that would allow Windows apps to run seamlessly from within OS X and interact with OS X apps. That would certainly fix their 5-year Microsoft Office support problem.
I would imagine that NTP could also twist that action in court to construe an admission of guilt from RIM.
I had a PIII/650 desktop that I used as a server. Idle with the drive spinning, it consumed about 45 watts. Replaced it with a Toshiba Tecra laptop, also PIII/650, with a broken screen and a 4200 RPM hard drive. Idle consumption went down to 13 watts, and it comes with its own built-in UPS.
You should replace it, then. I've measured common adapters for Apple, Toshiba and Dell laptops, and none consumed over 3 watts with no load.
Wow, that sounds like copyright law... except that the stuff never becomes freely available like the original law intended. Damned Disney.
Hand lotion. Find a keyboard from a woman in your office who is constantly putting on lotion, and you'll see a waxy brown coating on all the keys, wrist rest and mouse.
What Bill Thompson also fails to point out is that Windows and Linux users are just as smug about security. Ask any random Windows user, and chances are, they're running in an Administrator context, with no (or simple) password, Firewall off, no NAT router, no antivirus software, no antispyware software, no Windows patches and think they are perfectly safe.