Companies that actively thwart interoperability and promote lock-in are incompatible with the best interests of their own customers.
I like my iPod. I like iTunes. Why do I need interoperability?
Because in 4 years time you might not like what the new iPod has become and your old one has died.. How you gona play that music you paid for on that fancy new now?
I will share a short story of why this announcement isn't worth anything to me. Its purely based on my experience and may or may not be indicative of the software as a whole.
I started a new system admin job around 12 months ago now. All of the servers were up and running happily when I started and I had little to no documentation (its always the case).
2 weeks after I start and im still trying to figure out how all the systems have been setup. I'm playing around on the file server trying to work out the file permissions or something equally as boring when I start to receive some calls saying the email isn't working. My email is working fine so I immediately try and work out what on the users machines is causing this. After a few hours it becomes evident that its effecting anyone that logged in to their system after about 9am, but the people already logged in to the before them are still working fine.
I figure its got to be something on the server end and im getting put under the pump to try and fix it, so I try a magic reboot of the exchange server. This makes it worse as now no one can log in at all. After some digging around I work out that somehow the firewall in Symantec Endpoint that has been installed on the exchange server has decided that its under a DDOS attack and is blocking all the exchange traffic thinking its part of that attack. I disable the firewall and all comes good.
Now it stays like this in its disabled state for a few weeks and I forget that it even had an issue as i battle with the network config (trying to work out whats what). Patch day comes around and exchange gets a patch that requires a reboot. System gos down overnight and when i come back in the morning, no email for everyone again. The firewall had turned its self back on after the reboot and gone back to blocking everything again. This time I uninstall it.
A short while after when doing a system audit I remember that the exchange server no longer has a firewall or antivirus on it, so being the good little system admin I attempt to reinstall endpoint. It refuses to reinstall.
I spend more hours digging around for a solution and I try the removal tool, but nothing I can do will get the system to a state when endpoint will reinstall.. So that is the state our exchange server is now it and has been in for a little under 12 months. I cant afford to rebuild the server, or even reboot it that often. Everything is working and I spend all day hoping that the remnants of endpoint don't suddenly decide to hose the system.
Now this would sound like a nice little isolated issue, however in the following 3 months I have had exactly the same thing happen to at least 3 more servers. All problems were solved by removing endpoint and then I could not reinstall it.
We are just starting the process of a server refresh (new hardware and a new version of windows to boot) and im not planing on running any antivirus on any of them, its just not worth the problems.
The biggest problem is, as a user you get no control in what the webdevs decide to dev for. If they decide they are only going to make the site work in IE, then you use IE or don't use the site. As the 'dont use the site' option is, in many cases, not an option.....
This is why I STILL have the IETab extension installed in firefox (although I haven't used it in quite a while).
I like to think of myself as a reformed pirate. Back in the day I used to download everything I could get my hands on and I rarely paid for a game. I mean why should I when I can just download them?
Then I got a well paying job and I thought to myself, I can actually afford these games now, I should give my money to the people that have worked hard on these games so they they can continue to make them.
Then something interesting happened. As the games were now woth actual money to me, I started to get picky about what I was going to buy. Read reviews, didn't get things on day 1, played demos. The end result is now I don't download games OR buy them. I have a few games that I bought that I am still interested in, and I pay a subscription on an MMO, but I pretty much no longer pay or play any other games.
Being Australian I can believe this. Apart from the fact that we have significantly less capita to be 'per' of..
We have a HUGE amount of open desert space, and a fairly large proportion of sunlight, which would make for one of the best regions on the planet for a massive solar farm. But our government still likes to dig things up and burn it for power.
Wait? I have one of those phones and I didn't know that.. OMG, your right!
Nokia phones are even easier to 'tether'. Run nokia software (its not actually that bad and it gives you a backup feature for your contacts), click connect in that, let it do its thing. (assuming you have already previously paired the device)
Given that I don't even have to plug in my 3 year old Nokia to do this (Bluetooth) I just assumed that the iPhone could already do this..
At least most phone providers in australia have worked out if you let people do whatever they want with their phones they will use them more. Charge them for calls and data (at not massively high rates) and you make some cash.
And just to clarify, by 'need Office' please read 'stupidly made themselves dependent on certain office features that are not present in others software and cant or don't know how to change their package to work on a different system'.
These are also the people that get stung when MS changes the scripting language and breaks stuff.
The only thing I have seen an actual business case for that I would agree with is shared calendars in outlook/exchange. Although I haven't looked very hard I have yet to see another software package that is available for linux that has such an easy calendar implementation.
Firstly, WHY would Microsoft ever want to port XP to anything? This is an OS they have been desperately trying to kill off so they can get people buying their new ones. If anything is going to be ported its going to be Windows 7, and I personally cant see that going well.
Secondly, even if you HAD a port of windows on ARM, you'll get about the same number of Apps that you did when windows ran of the Alpha, ie, none. So why would you bother? "Being able to run all the normal software people use" is Windows ONLY selling point these days, and that nothing to do with the OS and everything to do with the developers.
Given the whole OLPC Linux to Windows switch fiasco, i'd be surprised if they get anyone seriously interested on helping them with a Linux port and you'd probably find a few people trying to actively hurt them for it.
Absolutely amazing idea (some may say world changing) but the implementation was very pore and badly managed. 2/10 would not shop again.
Windows 95/98/ME was their consumer track. Windows NT/2000 was there enterprise track.
Windows XP merged the 2 tracks in to one and spawned a server track (Server 2003). Since then we have had 2003 R2 (Server), Vista (Consumer/Enterprise) and then Server 2008 (Server). The next release will be 7 (Consumer/Enterprise) and the release after that will be 2008 R2 (Server) for which an early beta is already available.
Vista WAS meant to run in an enterprise (its million versions not withstanding), which is why it has things like an iSCSI initiator and remote management built in and turned on by default.
Not responding to the rest because frankly, you are being childish.
By coaxing you mean recompiling the kernel, tweaking six different config files, and pulling your hair out for days trying to understand documentation that references C header files. Which is exactly the level of knowledge we should expect from every single person who's going to need to service that machine. That's what amazes me about the linux crowd -- sure, you can figure out a way to do whatever kludge you want, eventually. But when you need it working right now, and you don't have a guy who was born with Donald Knuth's book in his left arm and a keyboard in his right, you're kinda screwed.
Ok, simple scenario. A drive fails in your mission critical NT4 server (im not going to assume that anyone runs a mission critical service on windows 95). Cant get an exact replica replacement drive because they stopped making them 7 or 8 years ago, so you go for the absolute smallest drive that uses the same interface that you can get your hands on. There is a fairly good chance that NT4 wont like it, and even if it does it wont accept it in to your raid because its a different size than the other disks. There is a fairly GOOD chance that you will be able to trick/bluff/hack your linux/unix install in to ignoring this and just use the thing.
Now im not saying NT4 will not work, it might, depending on the hardware, and im not saying that linux/unix will work 100% of the time, again, it might not, depending on your setup. I know which one I'd rather be trying to get working.
How about... The company pays its taxes based on where it is and not where the buyer is? That's a LOT simpler isn't it? It will also mean that the local resources that said company uses (roads, water, sewerage, street cleaners... ) get paid for by the entity that's actually using them.
Because there's no "value added" by introducing a Value Added Tax.
Yes there is. You didn't have to go down the shops and buy a whole CD for a single track, and you got it cheaper. If that's not added value i don't know what is. Pay your tax so your country doesn't go to the dogs.. (or china)
Thats Ok, despite my constant complaints we also run it and I have to administer it. Apart from destroying the performance of every machine it is deployed to, its also turning out impossible for me to keep the management side of it from loosing its settings every 6 to 8 weeks.
After several calls to Symantec we have reinstalled the database, reinstalled the managment software (several times) changed the server its running on, installed a fresh server and put it on that. It wont keep its database for more than 8 weeks and 'forgets' the machines that its supposed to manage.
Without the management software the machines will not do an update at all (no fallback) and have to be uninstalled by hand. I got so sick of it that last time it was up I attempted to remove the managed version and put a self updating package out. MOST of the machines got it and can now update themselves when the management server gos tits up. We are now pulling an extra 20-30G of traffic a month as each machine does its own updates. I'm still finding the odd laptop or desktop with virus defs over 12 months old.
Really?? 2 hours on a netbook? I get almost 5 out of mine, with the screen and wifi on full time.. It doesn't actually increase much when the wifi is turned off, but if you use it sporadically and have the screen set to turn off after 5 mins and hibernate after 10 it can go for 2 or 3 days without charging..
Or maybe you like how FF makes you jump through a bunch of hoops every time it encounters a self-signed SSL cert?
Actually.. Yes I do.. A self signed certificate is almost no security at all, but dressed up to make it look secure. Making you have to do something to access those pages will also make you think for a second if what you are doing is right. If your not going to read the warning and randomly click things then your EXACTLY the sort of person who should not trust self signed certificates..
Unless the OLPC hardware and software were being made by the people in the countries buying them
That actually WAS one of the original goals.. Sell millions of them to some random country, setup a production plant in THAT country, let them make it themselves.. The whole point of putting linux under the hood was originally (apart from cost) that they could change it to match their needs, and the KIDS could do it too.
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Companies that actively thwart interoperability and promote lock-in are incompatible with the best interests of their own customers.
I like my iPod. I like iTunes. Why do I need interoperability?
Because in 4 years time you might not like what the new iPod has become and your old one has died.. How you gona play that music you paid for on that fancy new now?
I will share a short story of why this announcement isn't worth anything to me. Its purely based on my experience and may or may not be indicative of the software as a whole.
I started a new system admin job around 12 months ago now. All of the servers were up and running happily when I started and I had little to no documentation (its always the case).
2 weeks after I start and im still trying to figure out how all the systems have been setup. I'm playing around on the file server trying to work out the file permissions or something equally as boring when I start to receive some calls saying the email isn't working. My email is working fine so I immediately try and work out what on the users machines is causing this. After a few hours it becomes evident that its effecting anyone that logged in to their system after about 9am, but the people already logged in to the before them are still working fine.
I figure its got to be something on the server end and im getting put under the pump to try and fix it, so I try a magic reboot of the exchange server. This makes it worse as now no one can log in at all. After some digging around I work out that somehow the firewall in Symantec Endpoint that has been installed on the exchange server has decided that its under a DDOS attack and is blocking all the exchange traffic thinking its part of that attack. I disable the firewall and all comes good.
Now it stays like this in its disabled state for a few weeks and I forget that it even had an issue as i battle with the network config (trying to work out whats what). Patch day comes around and exchange gets a patch that requires a reboot. System gos down overnight and when i come back in the morning, no email for everyone again. The firewall had turned its self back on after the reboot and gone back to blocking everything again. This time I uninstall it.
A short while after when doing a system audit I remember that the exchange server no longer has a firewall or antivirus on it, so being the good little system admin I attempt to reinstall endpoint. It refuses to reinstall.
I spend more hours digging around for a solution and I try the removal tool, but nothing I can do will get the system to a state when endpoint will reinstall.. So that is the state our exchange server is now it and has been in for a little under 12 months. I cant afford to rebuild the server, or even reboot it that often. Everything is working and I spend all day hoping that the remnants of endpoint don't suddenly decide to hose the system.
Now this would sound like a nice little isolated issue, however in the following 3 months I have had exactly the same thing happen to at least 3 more servers. All problems were solved by removing endpoint and then I could not reinstall it.
We are just starting the process of a server refresh (new hardware and a new version of windows to boot) and im not planing on running any antivirus on any of them, its just not worth the problems.
This would be the same antivirus that failed to pick up conficker in the first place would it?
The biggest problem is, as a user you get no control in what the webdevs decide to dev for. If they decide they are only going to make the site work in IE, then you use IE or don't use the site. As the 'dont use the site' option is, in many cases, not an option.....
This is why I STILL have the IETab extension installed in firefox (although I haven't used it in quite a while).
OR could advise them that the version of IE they have is now 2 versions out of date and is broken? Its not like MS charges for IE8 (or 7)
Where is the 'whatcouldpossiblygowrong' tag?!
This is for all the 'piracy is good/bad' people..
I like to think of myself as a reformed pirate. Back in the day I used to download everything I could get my hands on and I rarely paid for a game. I mean why should I when I can just download them?
Then I got a well paying job and I thought to myself, I can actually afford these games now, I should give my money to the people that have worked hard on these games so they they can continue to make them.
Then something interesting happened. As the games were now woth actual money to me, I started to get picky about what I was going to buy. Read reviews, didn't get things on day 1, played demos. The end result is now I don't download games OR buy them. I have a few games that I bought that I am still interested in, and I pay a subscription on an MMO, but I pretty much no longer pay or play any other games.
nice to see slashdot is upholding the fine tradition of not running a single news story on this day of days.
Well bully for you. We run endpoint, so its totally pointless asking it anything as it doesn't know.
Being Australian I can believe this. Apart from the fact that we have significantly less capita to be 'per' of..
We have a HUGE amount of open desert space, and a fairly large proportion of sunlight, which would make for one of the best regions on the planet for a massive solar farm. But our government still likes to dig things up and burn it for power.
I have never understood that.
Wait? I have one of those phones and I didn't know that.. OMG, your right!
Nokia phones are even easier to 'tether'. Run nokia software (its not actually that bad and it gives you a backup feature for your contacts), click connect in that, let it do its thing. (assuming you have already previously paired the device)
Given that I don't even have to plug in my 3 year old Nokia to do this (Bluetooth) I just assumed that the iPhone could already do this..
At least most phone providers in australia have worked out if you let people do whatever they want with their phones they will use them more. Charge them for calls and data (at not massively high rates) and you make some cash.
And just to clarify, by 'need Office' please read 'stupidly made themselves dependent on certain office features that are not present in others software and cant or don't know how to change their package to work on a different system'.
These are also the people that get stung when MS changes the scripting language and breaks stuff.
The only thing I have seen an actual business case for that I would agree with is shared calendars in outlook/exchange. Although I haven't looked very hard I have yet to see another software package that is available for linux that has such an easy calendar implementation.
A few year ago I would have seen the humour in that, giggled and moved on. I'm now coming to believe that censorship is WAY beyond evil.
Ok I have 2 questions..
Firstly, WHY would Microsoft ever want to port XP to anything? This is an OS they have been desperately trying to kill off so they can get people buying their new ones. If anything is going to be ported its going to be Windows 7, and I personally cant see that going well.
Secondly, even if you HAD a port of windows on ARM, you'll get about the same number of Apps that you did when windows ran of the Alpha, ie, none. So why would you bother? "Being able to run all the normal software people use" is Windows ONLY selling point these days, and that nothing to do with the OS and everything to do with the developers.
Given the whole OLPC Linux to Windows switch fiasco, i'd be surprised if they get anyone seriously interested on helping them with a Linux port and you'd probably find a few people trying to actively hurt them for it.
Absolutely amazing idea (some may say world changing) but the implementation was very pore and badly managed. 2/10 would not shop again.
I think you've gotten a little confused...
Windows 95/98/ME was their consumer track.
Windows NT/2000 was there enterprise track.
Windows XP merged the 2 tracks in to one and spawned a server track (Server 2003). Since then we have had 2003 R2 (Server), Vista (Consumer/Enterprise) and then Server 2008 (Server). The next release will be 7 (Consumer/Enterprise) and the release after that will be 2008 R2 (Server) for which an early beta is already available.
Vista WAS meant to run in an enterprise (its million versions not withstanding), which is why it has things like an iSCSI initiator and remote management built in and turned on by default.
Not responding to the rest because frankly, you are being childish.
By coaxing you mean recompiling the kernel, tweaking six different config files, and pulling your hair out for days trying to understand documentation that references C header files. Which is exactly the level of knowledge we should expect from every single person who's going to need to service that machine. That's what amazes me about the linux crowd -- sure, you can figure out a way to do whatever kludge you want, eventually. But when you need it working right now, and you don't have a guy who was born with Donald Knuth's book in his left arm and a keyboard in his right, you're kinda screwed.
Ok, simple scenario. A drive fails in your mission critical NT4 server (im not going to assume that anyone runs a mission critical service on windows 95). Cant get an exact replica replacement drive because they stopped making them 7 or 8 years ago, so you go for the absolute smallest drive that uses the same interface that you can get your hands on. There is a fairly good chance that NT4 wont like it, and even if it does it wont accept it in to your raid because its a different size than the other disks. There is a fairly GOOD chance that you will be able to trick/bluff/hack your linux/unix install in to ignoring this and just use the thing.
Now im not saying NT4 will not work, it might, depending on the hardware, and im not saying that linux/unix will work 100% of the time, again, it might not, depending on your setup. I know which one I'd rather be trying to get working.
How about... The company pays its taxes based on where it is and not where the buyer is? That's a LOT simpler isn't it? It will also mean that the local resources that said company uses (roads, water, sewerage, street cleaners... ) get paid for by the entity that's actually using them.
Because there's no "value added" by introducing a Value Added Tax.
Yes there is. You didn't have to go down the shops and buy a whole CD for a single track, and you got it cheaper. If that's not added value i don't know what is. Pay your tax so your country doesn't go to the dogs.. (or china)
Thats Ok, despite my constant complaints we also run it and I have to administer it. Apart from destroying the performance of every machine it is deployed to, its also turning out impossible for me to keep the management side of it from loosing its settings every 6 to 8 weeks.
After several calls to Symantec we have reinstalled the database, reinstalled the managment software (several times) changed the server its running on, installed a fresh server and put it on that. It wont keep its database for more than 8 weeks and 'forgets' the machines that its supposed to manage.
Without the management software the machines will not do an update at all (no fallback) and have to be uninstalled by hand. I got so sick of it that last time it was up I attempted to remove the managed version and put a self updating package out. MOST of the machines got it and can now update themselves when the management server gos tits up. We are now pulling an extra 20-30G of traffic a month as each machine does its own updates. I'm still finding the odd laptop or desktop with virus defs over 12 months old.
You forgot the worst one of them all.
4: Zombies
Really?? 2 hours on a netbook? I get almost 5 out of mine, with the screen and wifi on full time.. It doesn't actually increase much when the wifi is turned off, but if you use it sporadically and have the screen set to turn off after 5 mins and hibernate after 10 it can go for 2 or 3 days without charging..
Or maybe you like how FF makes you jump through a bunch of hoops every time it encounters a self-signed SSL cert?
Actually.. Yes I do.. A self signed certificate is almost no security at all, but dressed up to make it look secure. Making you have to do something to access those pages will also make you think for a second if what you are doing is right. If your not going to read the warning and randomly click things then your EXACTLY the sort of person who should not trust self signed certificates..
MS will hold off on release until netbook manufacturers have high enough specs to run 7.. Duh!
Unless the OLPC hardware and software were being made by the people in the countries buying them
That actually WAS one of the original goals.. Sell millions of them to some random country, setup a production plant in THAT country, let them make it themselves.. The whole point of putting linux under the hood was originally (apart from cost) that they could change it to match their needs, and the KIDS could do it too.