I find it strange that the feature list states the device is "device driver and operating system independent", and stating in the next bullet that it's compatable with a small list of operating systems (Windows family and MacOS). Sounds like this company doesn't do too much QC on their press releases.
This, of course is before even commenting on the fact that their encryption standards are NOT enough to satisfy government requirements, contrary to their statements...
Quick replies: 1: Correct. Another poster said that he/she wasn't sure about ground-launched (vs shoulder launched) missiles, but even ground launched missiles cannot get that high. 2: Not sure about this, but it seems logical. 3: Agree. The foam that hit the wing on launch will be getting a LOT of scrutiny, IMHO. 4: Sorry, but not even remotely possible. At 200,000 feet, they aren't even close to being through the atmosphere. They were still going 12.5kMph. Personally, I think that the post-Challenger pressure suits are just to keep the public comfortable that we're not sending our people into an unbelievably perilous situation. 5: Yup.
I believe that Enterprise RHN is available for desktop "channels" as well - right now we use the Basic level service, since we don't have enough systems for the Enterprise class, so I can't confirm this. The $100 per system cost still seems to apply to the workstations, but that's still not a major setback. If you haven't talked through all of the RHN options with one of their tech sales reps, you might want to give them a call. I spoke with one and he really was able to clear up the differences in the support levels available. And the guy I talked to was more tech, less sales, which was nice.
Good points - I work in a non-academic corporate environment (100 servers, mostly Solaris, 400 desktops, mostly NT4), so I understand the thoughts behind your pricing arguments. However, I can tell you that going from NT->2000 is EXTREMELY painful, and is costing me a lot more in terms of licenses and man hours than any RedHat major version upgrade I can remember would have. I've also heard rumors that Red Hat version upgrades will be implementable via RHN in the near future. Even for Advanced Server, $800 per year isn't too bad in the non-academic world. We're paying a lot more than that in maintenance contract costs for a huge number of software packages my users have. Also, I'm sure you've done this, but looking into a package deal/volume discount may put some cash back in your pocket. Even for the upgraded RHN service, $100 seems a little steep compared to the price quotes I've seen. I'll admit, though that I haven't looked at our quotes in the past few months, so my memory may be failing me.
I think that one of the major beefs against Microsoft is that they require you to PAY to upgrade to the latest version. I don't see that dropping errata support for something that will cost you a grand total of $0 (if you have fast net access) or a few bucks to get new discs from one of the cheapbytes-type places out there. Personally, I'd rather see them drop the old support in favor of providing a higher level of service to the paying customers. (This isn't a dig on their service, which I think is great - we're paying customers at work, and RHN is a tremendous tool.)
That saying is rather interesting - I've never heard it before. I don't really think that I agree with it, though, espescially as Smarty and PEAR start falling into wider use. PHP is really starting to come into its own. Why would a younger person being on the cutting edge of a relatively young language be considered not having their heart in the game, but an older one considered dumb for not "getting it" early on? Realize that I'm at the upper end of the 30-year-old cutoff, and have a respectable understanding of Perl, PHP, and C...
Good points, and I've heard most of them when discussing VOIP with others. A few observations based on the linked article and the Vonage pages: a) You can plug any phone you want into the Cisco VOIP box. Many new homes are being built with CAT5 in every room, run to a single location called the "head end." Just put the VOIP box at the head end, then run it's voice side to whatever plug(s) in the house you want. Any wal-mart phone will work. b) True. Broadband is still expanding, though, and some of the maps I've seen (not sales drone maps, either) show that while square-mileage coverage is not up too high, population-density coverage is not doing too badly. c) Right now, though I pay $70 for DSL (static IP and extra bandwidth to webhost from home - toad.net rocks!), then $45 for phone, taxes, caller id (damn telemarketers), and 50 mins of long distance per month. I could drop that $115 to $95 with VOIP. I already pay for DSL and I'm not giving that up any time soon. d) I agree here. Some places are pretty spotty in the coverage department (much spottier than broadband sometimes), but the long distance and mobility of wireless phones are pretty unbeatable. I guess that with VOIP, like most other things, there's a market, and some folks will really benefit from it. Others won't... Cool technology, nonetheless!!!
Are there any Open Source luminaries that *don't* read Slashdot?
More encouraging is that these folks CONTRIBUTE to the disussions! It's one thing to read a site like this, but another to lend expertise and foster a more valuable discussion.
(Yes, I know the submittor must have a good reason to hand out discs in physical format, but this may help.... And the subject says 'if'!:) CD Servers are incredibly expensive - espescially if you need something that serves up more than 10 or 20 discs. A good solution that I've seen work very well is to use a large, RAID-5'ed array (RAID-1 if you can afford the time to re-build the library from scratch) of 250-500GB and another SEPERATE disk for your favorite distro of Linux. (Other *NIXes should work, but I've not worked with them enough to be 100% sure.) 'dd' the cd's to a.iso file each, then mount the files as filesystems with the '-o loop' option to the mount command. Now you can export the RAID directory via NFS, SAMBA, etc, and allow your users uberfast access to all that CD-based goodness. You can even enforce permissions at a lower directory level if you need to restrict access to certain groups.
Of course if you are not networked, this is just an exercise in futility, but it sounds cool nonetheless!
I can't speak to your print server comment, but you are mistaken on the requirement to have an account on the Samba server to access shares from an NT domain machine. Check into winbind - it even allows you to chown and chgrp files to domain users. I have a web server set up that way right now. There are no local user accounts on that system besides root, who cannot log in remotely (the system is in the next room, so access is not an issue.) On the NT side, you can take ownership and change permissions to an extent as well.
My most frequest VFolder is just one that is of all unread messages, regardless of the folder. Also one for stuff received in the last 24 hours, and sent in the last 24 hours. For searching, the quick-search bar at the top of the mail folder windows is a god-send. just select the search criteria (i.e. "message body contains"), then the search specification (i.e. "sales figures"), and click search. you can even save searches for quick reference later. ("I'm always looking for the most recent sales figures" - save a search with attachments and 'sales figures' in the message body.)
overall, i echo the kudos to Evolution above. great app, and i wish we used exchange 2000 at work so i could get rid of the win desktop alltogether and use ximian connector.
Minor point of correction - what you describe is a "cross-shipment." A "drop shipment" is when I order an UPS from someone like CDW, and APC ships from their factory to my location. I only mention because I caused some confusion with an sales account rep by confusing these two shipping methods...
I keep getting calls with automated messages (against the law) trying to sell me something in a foreign language I don't understand (Farsi or Punjab, I think) on my cell phone. Already lodged a complaint with the FCC after being told I would be put on the DNC. Bastards.
I bolted 4 80mm case fans to the back of the entertainment center, daisy-chained their molex connectors, then soldered a 120VAC->12VDC converter to the chain. Then I plugged the adapter into the power outlet on the back of the AV Receiver so they spin up when the power is on. A bit loud, but really does the trick. Don't forget to make the fans do air EXCHANGE, not just blow over the components - one facing each direction on a shelf will ensure that the hot air is exhausted and the cooler air is brought in. Also, component placement is important - heat rises, so put the hottest component (usually the amplifier or receiver) on the top with a good 6-8 inches of clearance above it. Cooler or less-frequently used components go closer to the bottom of the stack/on a lower shelf. I also have a PC in the entertainment center, so I extended a fan header from the motherboard to the outside of the case and did the same with two smaller fans. The TiVo in the cabinet doesn't get about the high 40's (Celsius), and I don't have lm_sensors on the PC yet, but it's not terribly warm in the cabinet.
I know that people here tend to knock the larger distros (RedHat, et al), but in my experience, they've done a pretty good job at booting and installing OK on some pretty old and varied hardware. I'd say that using a recent redhat version with a properly configured kickstart floppy disk (NFS-mount the installation media, lock down the GRUB password, only install a certain package set, etc), you should be in good shape. I've done kickstarts before, and they are really slick...
I understand your sentiment, but I think there are a few holes... 1) You'd need clothes anyway. OK, maybe not if you live in a nudist colony, but what colony would take your average geek? If you need specific clothing for the job (i.e. uniform, safety gear, etc), the company SHOULD defer the cost somewhat, if not provide it for you. 2) You'd be free to walk, ride a bike, etc. at your discretion. Cost savings there. Maybe if you're lucky, the company would buy you a new pair of running shoes each year. Commuting is generally accepted as the cost of having a job. 3) I agree 100% on this one, but if a set-in-stone salary is a part of the negotiated contract, you're pretty much screwed. On the other hand, when labor rates dive into the toilet, a firm contract can be your benefit as well. 4) You'd have to live there anyway. If you needed special facilities to work from home (see response to #5 below), it would not be unreasonable to ask for cost deferrment, but having a house isn't required to have a job. (An address or residence, yes, but not a house/apartment. Hell, it's usually OK to have a PO Box as your primary address and live on the streets.) 5) Yes. If you are required to have DSL or cable to do work from home, the company should cover at least a portion of the bill.
However, the company's computers/network connection/etc exist solely for their corporate benefit. Just because there's a picnic table in the courtyard doesn't mean employees are permitted to spend all day sitting there BS'ing. Just because there's a water faucet on the building doesn't give me the right to fill up a large truck with water to fill my pool. The company has a right to control the usage of its resources. In the examples above, worker productivity and straight-out theft (respectively) are the situations at hand.
If your company doesn't compensate you for the things you mention (namely gas and clothes), those are expenses you need to consider when calculating your NET salary. "If I take a lower paying job that's 15 miles closer to home, is there a benefit?" is a good question to ask. Hell, maybe it's a tie for money, but the time regained from not being in traffic makes it worth the change to you.
Oh well... Again, I agree with the underlying sentiment, but some of the points are a bit unreasonable.
Just a dumb observation, but that's a really long sequence of characters for being one word! achteeteepeecolonslashslashwwwdothushmaildo tcom? maybe "one URL: http://www.hushmail.com" would work?
Very interesting - at least in NY state, where I went to High School, the sciences are taught in exactly the opposite order. I see your logic, though, and it makes a LOT more sense your way.
Ummm... while I agree with you 100%, there is nowhere in the writeup that has the string "PS/2" (pea ess forward-slash two). It does have the string "PS2" (pea ess two), which is more commonly accepted for the Sony hardware. Nothing personal, and it's not a flame, just an observation.
This was posted back in Feb (See this link.) It even gives the same link... In all seriousness, would it be all too hard to include some form of archive-checking feature to the submission queue? (Note: I don't use slash, so I don't know the internals...) Something like "if this link has been posted before, raise a flag to the administrator to make sure they really want to post a duplicate"... Might weed out at least some of the repeats... Heck, maybe even a "link similarity" feature that could match http://foo.com as possibly identitcal to http://foo.com/index.html.
I'm sure Disney has a few extra bucks to throw the farmers' way and an NDA to boot if they wanted to make this work. True - it's very likely that stomping someone's fields is illegal in most parts of the world, but given compensation, I'd bet that most farmers would let someone (i.e. Disney) do it.
Slashdot Mirror
I find it strange that the feature list states the device is "device driver and operating system independent", and stating in the next bullet that it's compatable with a small list of operating systems (Windows family and MacOS).
Sounds like this company doesn't do too much QC on their press releases.
This, of course is before even commenting on the fact that their encryption standards are NOT enough to satisfy government requirements, contrary to their statements...
I'll pass on this one, thanks...
Actually about 18 times the speed of sound...
Quick replies:
1: Correct. Another poster said that he/she wasn't sure about ground-launched (vs shoulder launched) missiles, but even ground launched missiles cannot get that high.
2: Not sure about this, but it seems logical.
3: Agree. The foam that hit the wing on launch will be getting a LOT of scrutiny, IMHO.
4: Sorry, but not even remotely possible. At 200,000 feet, they aren't even close to being through the atmosphere. They were still going 12.5kMph. Personally, I think that the post-Challenger pressure suits are just to keep the public comfortable that we're not sending our people into an unbelievably perilous situation.
5: Yup.
I believe that Enterprise RHN is available for desktop "channels" as well - right now we use the Basic level service, since we don't have enough systems for the Enterprise class, so I can't confirm this.
The $100 per system cost still seems to apply to the workstations, but that's still not a major setback.
If you haven't talked through all of the RHN options with one of their tech sales reps, you might want to give them a call. I spoke with one and he really was able to clear up the differences in the support levels available. And the guy I talked to was more tech, less sales, which was nice.
Good points - I work in a non-academic corporate environment (100 servers, mostly Solaris, 400 desktops, mostly NT4), so I understand the thoughts behind your pricing arguments.
However, I can tell you that going from NT->2000 is EXTREMELY painful, and is costing me a lot more in terms of licenses and man hours than any RedHat major version upgrade I can remember would have.
I've also heard rumors that Red Hat version upgrades will be implementable via RHN in the near future.
Even for Advanced Server, $800 per year isn't too bad in the non-academic world. We're paying a lot more than that in maintenance contract costs for a huge number of software packages my users have.
Also, I'm sure you've done this, but looking into a package deal/volume discount may put some cash back in your pocket. Even for the upgraded RHN service, $100 seems a little steep compared to the price quotes I've seen. I'll admit, though that I haven't looked at our quotes in the past few months, so my memory may be failing me.
I think that one of the major beefs against Microsoft is that they require you to PAY to upgrade to the latest version. I don't see that dropping errata support for something that will cost you a grand total of $0 (if you have fast net access) or a few bucks to get new discs from one of the cheapbytes-type places out there.
Personally, I'd rather see them drop the old support in favor of providing a higher level of service to the paying customers. (This isn't a dig on their service, which I think is great - we're paying customers at work, and RHN is a tremendous tool.)
That saying is rather interesting - I've never heard it before. I don't really think that I agree with it, though, espescially as Smarty and PEAR start falling into wider use. PHP is really starting to come into its own.
Why would a younger person being on the cutting edge of a relatively young language be considered not having their heart in the game, but an older one considered dumb for not "getting it" early on?
Realize that I'm at the upper end of the 30-year-old cutoff, and have a respectable understanding of Perl, PHP, and C...
Good points, and I've heard most of them when discussing VOIP with others. A few observations based on the linked article and the Vonage pages:
a) You can plug any phone you want into the Cisco VOIP box. Many new homes are being built with CAT5 in every room, run to a single location called the "head end." Just put the VOIP box at the head end, then run it's voice side to whatever plug(s) in the house you want. Any wal-mart phone will work.
b) True. Broadband is still expanding, though, and some of the maps I've seen (not sales drone maps, either) show that while square-mileage coverage is not up too high, population-density coverage is not doing too badly.
c) Right now, though I pay $70 for DSL (static IP and extra bandwidth to webhost from home - toad.net rocks!), then $45 for phone, taxes, caller id (damn telemarketers), and 50 mins of long distance per month. I could drop that $115 to $95 with VOIP. I already pay for DSL and I'm not giving that up any time soon.
d) I agree here. Some places are pretty spotty in the coverage department (much spottier than broadband sometimes), but the long distance and mobility of wireless phones are pretty unbeatable.
I guess that with VOIP, like most other things, there's a market, and some folks will really benefit from it. Others won't...
Cool technology, nonetheless!!!
Are there any Open Source luminaries that *don't* read Slashdot?
More encouraging is that these folks CONTRIBUTE to the disussions! It's one thing to read a site like this, but another to lend expertise and foster a more valuable discussion.
(Yes, I know the submittor must have a good reason to hand out discs in physical format, but this may help.... And the subject says 'if'! :) .iso file each, then mount the files as filesystems with the '-o loop' option to the mount command. Now you can export the RAID directory via NFS, SAMBA, etc, and allow your users uberfast access to all that CD-based goodness. You can even enforce permissions at a lower directory level if you need to restrict access to certain groups.
CD Servers are incredibly expensive - espescially if you need something that serves up more than 10 or 20 discs. A good solution that I've seen work very well is to use a large, RAID-5'ed array (RAID-1 if you can afford the time to re-build the library from scratch) of 250-500GB and another SEPERATE disk for your favorite distro of Linux. (Other *NIXes should work, but I've not worked with them enough to be 100% sure.)
'dd' the cd's to a
Of course if you are not networked, this is just an exercise in futility, but it sounds cool nonetheless!
Very nice links to 'cut' and 'paste'... classic!
I enjoyed your talks out in Vegas - keep up the excellent research and work!
I can't speak to your print server comment, but you are mistaken on the requirement to have an account on the Samba server to access shares from an NT domain machine.
Check into winbind - it even allows you to chown and chgrp files to domain users. I have a web server set up that way right now. There are no local user accounts on that system besides root, who cannot log in remotely (the system is in the next room, so access is not an issue.) On the NT side, you can take ownership and change permissions to an extent as well.
My most frequest VFolder is just one that is of all unread messages, regardless of the folder. Also one for stuff received in the last 24 hours, and sent in the last 24 hours.
For searching, the quick-search bar at the top of the mail folder windows is a god-send. just select the search criteria (i.e. "message body contains"), then the search specification (i.e. "sales figures"), and click search. you can even save searches for quick reference later. ("I'm always looking for the most recent sales figures" - save a search with attachments and 'sales figures' in the message body.)
overall, i echo the kudos to Evolution above. great app, and i wish we used exchange 2000 at work so i could get rid of the win desktop alltogether and use ximian connector.
Minor point of correction - what you describe is a "cross-shipment." A "drop shipment" is when I order an UPS from someone like CDW, and APC ships from their factory to my location.
I only mention because I caused some confusion with an sales account rep by confusing these two shipping methods...
That's nothing - 18% of those made-up stats are believed by the audience!
I keep getting calls with automated messages (against the law) trying to sell me something in a foreign language I don't understand (Farsi or Punjab, I think) on my cell phone.
Already lodged a complaint with the FCC after being told I would be put on the DNC.
Bastards.
I bolted 4 80mm case fans to the back of the entertainment center, daisy-chained their molex connectors, then soldered a 120VAC->12VDC converter to the chain. Then I plugged the adapter into the power outlet on the back of the AV Receiver so they spin up when the power is on. A bit loud, but really does the trick.
Don't forget to make the fans do air EXCHANGE, not just blow over the components - one facing each direction on a shelf will ensure that the hot air is exhausted and the cooler air is brought in.
Also, component placement is important - heat rises, so put the hottest component (usually the amplifier or receiver) on the top with a good 6-8 inches of clearance above it. Cooler or less-frequently used components go closer to the bottom of the stack/on a lower shelf.
I also have a PC in the entertainment center, so I extended a fan header from the motherboard to the outside of the case and did the same with two smaller fans.
The TiVo in the cabinet doesn't get about the high 40's (Celsius), and I don't have lm_sensors on the PC yet, but it's not terribly warm in the cabinet.
I know that people here tend to knock the larger distros (RedHat, et al), but in my experience, they've done a pretty good job at booting and installing OK on some pretty old and varied hardware.
I'd say that using a recent redhat version with a properly configured kickstart floppy disk (NFS-mount the installation media, lock down the GRUB password, only install a certain package set, etc), you should be in good shape.
I've done kickstarts before, and they are really slick...
I understand your sentiment, but I think there are a few holes...
1) You'd need clothes anyway. OK, maybe not if you live in a nudist colony, but what colony would take your average geek? If you need specific clothing for the job (i.e. uniform, safety gear, etc), the company SHOULD defer the cost somewhat, if not provide it for you.
2) You'd be free to walk, ride a bike, etc. at your discretion. Cost savings there. Maybe if you're lucky, the company would buy you a new pair of running shoes each year. Commuting is generally accepted as the cost of having a job.
3) I agree 100% on this one, but if a set-in-stone salary is a part of the negotiated contract, you're pretty much screwed. On the other hand, when labor rates dive into the toilet, a firm contract can be your benefit as well.
4) You'd have to live there anyway. If you needed special facilities to work from home (see response to #5 below), it would not be unreasonable to ask for cost deferrment, but having a house isn't required to have a job. (An address or residence, yes, but not a house/apartment. Hell, it's usually OK to have a PO Box as your primary address and live on the streets.)
5) Yes. If you are required to have DSL or cable to do work from home, the company should cover at least a portion of the bill.
However, the company's computers/network connection/etc exist solely for their corporate benefit. Just because there's a picnic table in the courtyard doesn't mean employees are permitted to spend all day sitting there BS'ing. Just because there's a water faucet on the building doesn't give me the right to fill up a large truck with water to fill my pool. The company has a right to control the usage of its resources. In the examples above, worker productivity and straight-out theft (respectively) are the situations at hand.
If your company doesn't compensate you for the things you mention (namely gas and clothes), those are expenses you need to consider when calculating your NET salary. "If I take a lower paying job that's 15 miles closer to home, is there a benefit?" is a good question to ask. Hell, maybe it's a tie for money, but the time regained from not being in traffic makes it worth the change to you.
Oh well... Again, I agree with the underlying sentiment, but some of the points are a bit unreasonable.
Just a dumb observation, but that's a really long sequence of characters for being one word!o tcom?
achteeteepeecolonslashslashwwwdothushmaild
maybe "one URL: http://www.hushmail.com" would work?
Very interesting - at least in NY state, where I went to High School, the sciences are taught in exactly the opposite order.
I see your logic, though, and it makes a LOT more sense your way.
Ummm... while I agree with you 100%, there is nowhere in the writeup that has the string "PS/2" (pea ess forward-slash two). It does have the string "PS2" (pea ess two), which is more commonly accepted for the Sony hardware.
Nothing personal, and it's not a flame, just an observation.
This was posted back in Feb (See this link.) It even gives the same link...
In all seriousness, would it be all too hard to include some form of archive-checking feature to the submission queue? (Note: I don't use slash, so I don't know the internals...) Something like "if this link has been posted before, raise a flag to the administrator to make sure they really want to post a duplicate"...
Might weed out at least some of the repeats... Heck, maybe even a "link similarity" feature that could match http://foo.com as possibly identitcal to http://foo.com/index.html.
Wow.... That's really cool.
Mad props to thinking in Hex. I have a hard enough time getting by in decimal.
I'm sure Disney has a few extra bucks to throw the farmers' way and an NDA to boot if they wanted to make this work.
True - it's very likely that stomping someone's fields is illegal in most parts of the world, but given compensation, I'd bet that most farmers would let someone (i.e. Disney) do it.