"There are different reasons why people advocate open source. One reason for enterprise is, 'You have the source code; if it doesn't work, you can fix it.' But the fact is, if I'm an enterprise, I don't want to fix it. I want somebody else to fix it," Goldman said.
That about sums it up. Most corporations are not in the software business; they have IT staff, but not programming and development staff....just guys that maintain and secure the servers and networks. These guys aren't going to desk-check all the code for buffer overflows and the like, they just want to install it, configure it, and apply security patches that the software developers wrote.
This is not an unsolvable problem; hopefully Redhat and other Linux vendors will eventually get the respect / trust that other commercial OS vendors get from the business community.
"It's not like you can put this stuff in in a minute," says James Crowe, CEO of Level 3 Communications. "If you want it nine to 18 months from now, you need to start today."
With wisdom like this gem, is it any wonder why companies like Level 3 are in the bankrupcy conga line?
When I purchase software, I own the product. The problem with expiring registration codes is that you only own the software as long as the company is in business.
What happens when Ambrosia goes out of business and the software code expires? Your product that you PAID FOR stops working.
Can you imagine the impact of GM going out of business and then finding your car doesn't start the next morning? You paid for that car, and you expect it to function correctly for the expected life of that car.
Expiring codes, WPA, and all the other software piracy/protection schemes out there remove control of the software from the end user and shift it to the software vendor. It is only a small step to software as a subscription service after that.
I'm really glad my Linux machine is totally free and if Microsoft, or Ambrosia goes out of business it will still keep working.
The audiotron is by far better. Bigger display, audio component sized, and no additional software needed to make it work. Built in web browser configuration. The audiotron also streams audio off the web.
My only gripe with either of these boxes is that they don't have TV output. TV output seems like it would be easy to do and it would add minimal cost to the unit ($50).
The audiotron occasionally hangs when it encounters really long filenames or corrupt files, but in the year i've owened it i've only seen it happen twice.
I'm an admin for a k-12 school and many teachers (even ones just out of college) are technologically inept. Some regularly forget how to check their e-mail, others forget how to center and bold text in word. And still some do not understand me when I say "open your web browser and point it to www.somewhere.com"; they what does it mean to point to?
We're not talking rocket science here.
If these teachers can not follow directions, then learn and retain these simple steps, how can they expect their students to? Until educators are proficient in technology and schools provide enough current technological instruction most people in this country just won't ever "get it".
www.anandtech.com www.tomshardware.com www.hardo cp.com www.cnn.com www.msnbc.com www.nyt.com w ww.arstechnica.com
and a lot more!
All these sites are still free; and most slashdot comment is duplicated there anyway (minus the comments, which might be a good thing)....and no, i'm not affiliated with any of them. -ted
because of the last "A"; they are an american organization. How exactly do they plan to enforce US copyright law in nations that do not recognize US copyright law?
The internet is a world wide medium, the RIAA can not put all the world governments (or ISPs for that matter) in their back pockets.
The toothpaste is already out of the tube. The RIAA just hasn't "gotten it" yet.
OK, unemployment is up, consumer confidence unexpectedly dove yesterday....what do these companies expect???? Infintely increasing market share and sales. RIAA let me give you a clue....the world economy is in a RECESSION! These dopes haven't even considered the macro-economic state of the world.
I guess it's easier to blame napster and the terrorists and whoever else they can think of.
I've never run into speed or compatiblity issues with Rambus; I can not say the same for DDR memory.
I can't tell you how many chipsets i've dealt with in the past year that had issues with filling all the memory sockets; general timing and compatibility issues....damn....via even has speed issues regarding filling all the dimm sockets with ram on some of their chipsets! That's rediculous.
How many Rambus issues have I had? Let's see....NONE.
Granted, Rambus was expensive, but has anyone looked at DDR vs. Rambus lately? The pricing is almost equal.
Hopefully Intel will release STABLE chipsets and possibly force DDR technology to be as cross-compatible as Rambus.
Better compatibility with existing MS products. I'd like to be able to login to an existing MS domain (w2k or NT) map drives via login script...etc.
I'd also like to login to Novell servers....map drives etc.
I'd also like the ability to slowly replace my NT/2000 servers with linux machines...that means being able to add a linux server to a windows domain and replicate active directory-and/or-NT user lists.
I don't want to maintain seperate Unix and Windows user lists.
I'd like to see a comprehensive directory service for Linux that is compatible with windows.
All this would make it easy for me to gradually replace windows in my organization.
Could it be that those who sleep too long also don't excercise, eat fried foods, and drink too much?
I wouldn't place too much credence on this report.
Now I can flash my BIOS and......um.....that's it.
on
FreeDOS
·
· Score: 2
OK, besides being able to flash my motherboard BIOS, what else will this be used for? I did some embedded dos work years ago and I hated every minute of it....memory management...watt tcp layers for networking....uuugh!
A linux kernel can be very small with lots of stuff built in. Why would anyone use DOS?
During the dot bomb bubble, I heard about a company that had a high-speed method of data transfer along power lines. They "inscribed" the data in the magnetic field around the power lines.
The problem with this is and other high-speed data ideas is that when you are sending data across copper wire you must increase your modulation frequency to acommodate more data. That works great until you get to a power transformer and it scrubs the harmonics (and your corresponding data).
I guess fiber is the only long term solution until quantum data transmission becomes a reality.
-ted
Intel's compiler writers.....
on
Inside the Itanium
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Lucky for intel, they do have a very talented bunch of compiler writers. Their work on P4 optimizations basically saved the P4 from itself. The problem is getting the rest of the complier world to support Intel's new architecture. Like them or not; Visual C and GCC are hugely popular, and until those guys support Itanic, Intel won't sell many of these newfangled processors.
You still need evidence that both parties entered into the contract. Take this case:
Company "A" pirates all their software....did they enter into a user license agreement agreeing to an audit? No, not contractually/legally.
Company "B" legally uses its software. How do you prove what software is running on the machines without doing a physical audit? Remember, we are still at the "convince the judge to give us a warrant" phase.
The bottom line is that the BSA is effective because they use the THREAT of legal action to further their agenda. If all businesses excercized their legal rights of protection against unlawful search and seizure, the BSA would take 10 times as long to do any audit...and therefore become less or non-effective.
Let me get this straight....a pissed-off ex-employee reports his former employer to the BSA and then the BSA requests an audit???? What kind of crap is this? Guilty until proven innocent? What charter is the BSA operating under that gives them the right to become a law enforcement agency....none that I know of. Also, who pays for the man-power to do a software audit? This could be very expensive for a large corporation.
In order to raid a business, the BSA must obtain a warrant since the constitution (Amendment IV) of the united states protects its citizens against unreasonable search and seizures. In order to obtain this warrant; the BSA must convince a court that there is compelling evidence of piracy...just the word of disgruntled employees is not compelling evidence. After all, ex-employees are tainted witnesses.
There are checks and balances in our government that try to prevent abuses of our justice system. These abuses could force a legitimate company out of business.
My question is this: Could a legitimate company sue for the costs of a BSA investigation that produced no evidence of piracy? That would be justice.
I'm not a piracy advocate, but I hate people that use our justice system to do their dirty work.
Why, oh why, is another band-aid technology being deployed over copper? It's everywhere, and it's cheap....so what. It's outdated and unreliable. Look at twisted pair in older cities...the same stuff that Bell himself laid...are you going to trust packetized data over that?
Yes, fiber is expensive, but that's because the economies of scale haven't kicked in...remember how prohibitively expensive satellite dish technology was? Someone decided to rework the technology so it could scale (price) and become affordable for the masses.
Fiber is the only long term solution for on-demand video, communications and IP services. Why don't struggling telecommunications companies start to develop lower cost, large scale light based systems? That's the technology that will revitialize the almost dead broadband sector:
Content and communications companies read my lips:
I want high-speed internet, on-demand video, and voice service all over one gigabit fiber digital pipe and i'd be willing to spend $150-$200/mo for it!
It's a huge mountain to climb, but the results would be worth it.
Slashdot Mirror
It's right in the article:
"There are different reasons why people advocate open source. One reason for enterprise is, 'You have the source code; if it doesn't work, you can fix it.' But the fact is, if I'm an enterprise, I don't want to fix it. I want somebody else to fix it," Goldman said.
That about sums it up. Most corporations are not in the software business; they have IT staff, but not programming and development staff....just guys that maintain and secure the servers and networks. These guys aren't going to desk-check all the code for buffer overflows and the like, they just want to install it, configure it, and apply security patches that the software developers wrote.
This is not an unsolvable problem; hopefully Redhat and other Linux vendors will eventually get the respect / trust that other commercial OS vendors get from the business community.
Yup, you're right. That's an insane amount of heat....this product won't be cheap.
-ted
I thought they "baked" this stuff at around 1100 degrees not 3000. Am I wrong?
-ted
"It's not like you can put this stuff in in a minute," says James Crowe, CEO of Level 3 Communications. "If you want it nine to 18 months from now, you need to start today."
With wisdom like this gem, is it any wonder why companies like Level 3 are in the bankrupcy conga line?
When I purchase software, I own the product. The problem with expiring registration codes is that you only own the software as long as the company is in business.
What happens when Ambrosia goes out of business and the software code expires? Your product that you PAID FOR stops working.
Can you imagine the impact of GM going out of business and then finding your car doesn't start the next morning? You paid for that car, and you expect it to function correctly for the expected life of that car.
Expiring codes, WPA, and all the other software piracy/protection schemes out there remove control of the software from the end user and shift it to the software vendor. It is only a small step to software as a subscription service after that.
I'm really glad my Linux machine is totally free and if Microsoft, or Ambrosia goes out of business it will still keep working.
-ted
Agreed...I always wondered why it takes so long? After all, winamp on my computer takes alot less time to do essentially the same task.
-ted
Just run the audio over RG6 coax cable; it's slightly ghetto, but RG6 does provide a nice shield against RF-EM noise.
-ted
The audiotron is by far better. Bigger display, audio component sized, and no additional software needed to make it work. Built in web browser configuration. The audiotron also streams audio off the web.
My only gripe with either of these boxes is that they don't have TV output. TV output seems like it would be easy to do and it would add minimal cost to the unit ($50).
The audiotron occasionally hangs when it encounters really long filenames or corrupt files, but in the year i've owened it i've only seen it happen twice.
-ted
I'm an admin for a k-12 school and many teachers (even ones just out of college) are technologically inept. Some regularly forget how to check their e-mail, others forget how to center and bold text in word. And still some do not understand me when I say "open your web browser and point it to www.somewhere.com"; they what does it mean to point to?
We're not talking rocket science here.
If these teachers can not follow directions, then learn and retain these simple steps, how can they expect their students to? Until educators are proficient in technology and schools provide enough current technological instruction most people in this country just won't ever "get it".
-ted
I think this is what happened regarding Java support in XP:
MS: Look at our Java VM isn't it cool?
SUN: It's not compatible; make it compatible or cease and desist!
MS: OK, if those are the two options we cease and desist; we're pulling it out for the launch of XP.
SUN: Boo-hoo, they called our bluff...MS actually dropped support for the JAVA VM. What now?
SUN's legal department: I know what we can do! SUE, SUE, SUE!
***Editorial***
SUN threatened legal action MS because of a non-compliant VM, so MS removes the offending VM; now SUN is bitching that there is no JAVA support in XP!
Hey SUN T.F.B.! You are putting out the wrong fire! Linux is more a threat to your existence than MS is.
-ted
www.anandtech.como cp.com
w ww.arstechnica.com
www.tomshardware.com
www.hard
www.cnn.com
www.msnbc.com
www.nyt.com
and a lot more!
All these sites are still free; and most slashdot comment is duplicated there anyway (minus the comments, which might be a good thing)....and no, i'm not affiliated with any of them.
-ted
because of the last "A"; they are an american organization. How exactly do they plan to enforce US copyright law in nations that do not recognize US copyright law?
The internet is a world wide medium, the RIAA can not put all the world governments (or ISPs for that matter) in their back pockets.
The toothpaste is already out of the tube. The RIAA just hasn't "gotten it" yet.
-ted
OK, unemployment is up, consumer confidence unexpectedly dove yesterday....what do these companies expect???? Infintely increasing market share and sales. RIAA let me give you a clue....the world economy is in a RECESSION! These dopes haven't even considered the macro-economic state of the world.
I guess it's easier to blame napster and the terrorists and whoever else they can think of.
-ted
I've never run into speed or compatiblity issues with Rambus; I can not say the same for DDR memory.
I can't tell you how many chipsets i've dealt with in the past year that had issues with filling all the memory sockets; general timing and compatibility issues....damn....via even has speed issues regarding filling all the dimm sockets with ram on some of their chipsets! That's rediculous.
How many Rambus issues have I had? Let's see....NONE.
Granted, Rambus was expensive, but has anyone looked at DDR vs. Rambus lately? The pricing is almost equal.
Hopefully Intel will release STABLE chipsets and possibly force DDR technology to be as cross-compatible as Rambus.
-ted
I've seen little rectangular boxes with small antennas dangling from streetlights appear in my area (Mercer County-Hamilton, NJ).
Are these the antenna's that Ricochet uses?
-ted
Better compatibility with existing MS products. I'd like to be able to login to an existing MS domain (w2k or NT) map drives via login script...etc.
I'd also like to login to Novell servers....map drives etc.
I'd also like the ability to slowly replace my NT/2000 servers with linux machines...that means being able to add a linux server to a windows domain and replicate active directory-and/or-NT user lists.
I don't want to maintain seperate Unix and Windows user lists.
I'd like to see a comprehensive directory service for Linux that is compatible with windows.
All this would make it easy for me to gradually replace windows in my organization.
C'mon OS community....you can do this!
-ted
The study failed to factor in lifestyles.
Could it be that those who sleep too long also don't excercise, eat fried foods, and drink too much?
I wouldn't place too much credence on this report.
OK, besides being able to flash my motherboard BIOS, what else will this be used for? I did some embedded dos work years ago and I hated every minute of it....memory management...watt tcp layers for networking....uuugh!
A linux kernel can be very small with lots of stuff built in. Why would anyone use DOS?
-ted
During the dot bomb bubble, I heard about a company that had a high-speed method of data transfer along power lines. They "inscribed" the data in the magnetic field around the power lines.
The problem with this is and other high-speed data ideas is that when you are sending data across copper wire you must increase your modulation frequency to acommodate more data. That works great until you get to a power transformer and it scrubs the harmonics (and your corresponding data).
I guess fiber is the only long term solution until quantum data transmission becomes a reality.
-ted
Lucky for intel, they do have a very talented bunch of compiler writers. Their work on P4 optimizations basically saved the P4 from itself. The problem is getting the rest of the complier world to support Intel's new architecture. Like them or not; Visual C and GCC are hugely popular, and until those guys support Itanic, Intel won't sell many of these newfangled processors.
-ted
You still need evidence that both parties entered into the contract. Take this case:
Company "A" pirates all their software....did they enter into a user license agreement agreeing to an audit? No, not contractually/legally.
Company "B" legally uses its software. How do you prove what software is running on the machines without doing a physical audit? Remember, we are still at the "convince the judge to give us a warrant" phase.
The bottom line is that the BSA is effective because they use the THREAT of legal action to further their agenda. If all businesses excercized their legal rights of protection against unlawful search and seizure, the BSA would take 10 times as long to do any audit...and therefore become less or non-effective.
Yippie! I'm buying a DVD writer! Now if only the writable media was as cheap as CD-R....
-ted
Let me get this straight....a pissed-off ex-employee reports his former employer to the BSA and then the BSA requests an audit???? What kind of crap is this? Guilty until proven innocent? What charter is the BSA operating under that gives them the right to become a law enforcement agency....none that I know of. Also, who pays for the man-power to do a software audit? This could be very expensive for a large corporation.
In order to raid a business, the BSA must obtain a warrant since the constitution (Amendment IV) of the united states protects its citizens against unreasonable search and seizures. In order to obtain this warrant; the BSA must convince a court that there is compelling evidence of piracy...just the word of disgruntled employees is not compelling evidence. After all, ex-employees are tainted witnesses.
There are checks and balances in our government that try to prevent abuses of our justice system. These abuses could force a legitimate company out of business.
My question is this: Could a legitimate company sue for the costs of a BSA investigation that produced no evidence of piracy? That would be justice.
I'm not a piracy advocate, but I hate people that use our justice system to do their dirty work.
-ted
Why, oh why, is another band-aid technology being deployed over copper? It's everywhere, and it's cheap....so what. It's outdated and unreliable. Look at twisted pair in older cities...the same stuff that Bell himself laid...are you going to trust packetized data over that?
Yes, fiber is expensive, but that's because the economies of scale haven't kicked in...remember how prohibitively expensive satellite dish technology was? Someone decided to rework the technology so it could scale (price) and become affordable for the masses.
Fiber is the only long term solution for on-demand video, communications and IP services. Why don't struggling telecommunications companies start to develop lower cost, large scale light based systems? That's the technology that will revitialize the almost dead broadband sector:
Content and communications companies read my lips:
I want high-speed internet, on-demand video, and voice service all over one gigabit fiber digital pipe and i'd be willing to spend $150-$200/mo for it!
It's a huge mountain to climb, but the results would be worth it.
-ted
Very cool; I can now say we are a nation with too much time on our hands....it is damn cool though.
-ted