>>> You know I've been wondering this ever since the whole "lets replace Exchange" movement started. What is so unique about exchange that no one else (commercial or otherwise) has come out with a viable replacement? And no I don't consider "lockin" unique.
Very good question. It's highly pathetic IMHO. I keep hearing about organization after organization switching to Exchange, despite the fact that it's by far the most expensive available (my organization did a cost study on several different groupware/mail products, and we found that Exchange cost TEN TIMES what Bynari Insight would cost, and significantly more than the second most expensive) and a standards-non-compliance nightmare.
A company should ONLY consider Exchange if they've already virtually sold their soul to Microsoft. Other than that, please, accept any necessary inconveniences and just avoid it!
Consider the complexity of mail and groupware. It can't be squat compared to, say, the Linux Kernel. So why is it so evasive?
Perhaps the real problem is more Outlook and its proprietary protocols than anything else. Eventually, perhaps in a couple years, I expect that we will have a good fully Open Source solution that will also work with Windows clients and acceptable to the PHBs. That will be a great day, and I'm fairly sure that my organization would jump on it.
Just took a look at some of the code. Comments are in German! Not that there's anything wrong with German, but that might limit North American involvement in development.....
Other than that, the code seems organized well, from a quick glance.
That might be the same with my organization, although Exchange (5.5) is only used in one location.
There's also Bynari Insight Server which has a somewhat impressive feature list, including an Exchange migration tool. We're testing it now. I would be interested in knowing if anyone here uses that.
> This is a bad thing because the punishment with the almighty cartels never fits the crime.
Ok, you might be right about that. Certainly, a fine of a few hundred dollars would probably do the trick.
But why can't people take responsibility for their actions? If they wouldn't have (knowingly) openned up their computing and networking resources to allow others download the copyrighted material for free, they wouldn't be in this jam. It's their own fault, period.
> Copyright infringement is wrong? That's debatable.
It is? Remember, our cherished Open Source licenses are all based on copyright law. If it's not wrong to copy music for friends, can I copy Linux kernel code into my proprietary application too?
Attitudes like yours are the kind that can get open source software in trouble. We need to take the high moral ground.
People were openly sharing copyrighted material without permission. That's illegal. Period. The law is right to crack down on them. As much as we can hate the RIAA, I don't see how they're wrong on this issue.
Now, there are plenty of good reasons to hate the RIAA. Like, that they have been trying to pass laws through Congress that limit our freedoms. That is downright outrageous and wrong.
Heck, these cases might prove that copyright law as it exists would be enough, and we don't need to add in any of Fritz Hollings' tripe to "protect" the RIAA!
Maybe there should be more of a difference and maybe not, but this is the first time I've seen comparable computers offered for LESS money with Linux instead of Windows, at least from a major manufacturer. I would call that a HUGE step in the right direction!
Thanks HP. I want to get a laptop within the next year, and you just moved to the top of my list!
Maybe, but I would like to think they know enough to figure out that the suits they have need to be settled, or at least SOMETHING needs to go their way, before it would make any sense to start something else.
well, the original Halloween document somewhat contradicts that. No, not official, but shows that someone was likely thinking of it.
Personally, I expect that they'll use their portfolio defensively... until Open Source starts taking large shares of their base market. That could be 2-5 years away.
That's why we need to work NOW to restore sanity to the patent system.
I'm trying to talk my organization (about 750 desktops) into switching to Firefox as the standard.
Everyone in IT seems to agree that it's the better browser, but the resistance to switching mainly comes from having to install it on 750 boxes and training users. It doesn't seem to me like training should be that big a deal, since it's just a web browser, but some users tend to ask really stupid questions....
There's also the problem with it not working on some banking sites, but that can likely be resolved by the User Agent Switcher plugin.
I've been using MBNA's net payment for a while. It had always worked with Mozilla just fine.
Then, a few months ago, they switched to some other payment service. It said I either needed up upgrade my Netscape (I was using the latest Mozilla!) or switch to IE.
I downloaded Firefox and installed the User Agent Switcher plugin, and it worked just fine.
Fortunately, since then, they have started allowing connections with regular Mozilla, so everything is good! I didn't even have to complain, though I likely would have eventually.
I can't believe no one has mentioned WordStar yet (I searched the comments even!).
WordStar 6 was by far the best word processor of its day. No moving your hand away from home row. Built-in thesaurus. Good graphical page preview. Control the aspects of your document with "dot commands" that could be easily copied around if you needed.
Image insertion was possible but a pain in the arse.
Actually, you would own the physical car, just as you would own the physical disks of your software. But you don't own the intellectual property of the software unless you wrote it (and then only if you hadn't sold the rights). Same with a car. You don't own the code in its onboard computer either; you just have the right to use it (and, unlike OSS/FS, no rights to change it).
> I believe in ownership. I believe it is my right to own what I buy.
Of course, technically, you don't "own" any software, except maybe that which is in the public domain. You certainly don't "own" the copy of Linux you use any more than you would own Windows. The folks that wrote the code own it.
Dunno. I was just robbed of my watch tonight. I'm in a good sized Latin American capital city, and it was a bit after dark. Not a lot of people out. I was walking along, and two guys were ahead of me. When I angled my walk to the left or right in order to pass them, I could see them doing the same, following my moves, from several meters away.
Do you think turning around and running would have been wise? I thought about it, but what if they could run faster than me? I asked my roommate, who has more experience here than I do, and he thought running would have been a bad idea.
I can run reasonably fast, but only for a couple minutes at a time.
> I used to live in Mexico and travelled through southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras with a laptop, a digital camera, and a few thousand pesos in my daypack the entire time.
Yeah.... I also have a good amount of experience in Central and South America, a total of over 9 months.
Only once have I had anything stolen... unfortunately, that time was a couple hours ago.:( Fortunately, it was "just" a watch and they didn't look in my pockets for the cell phone and cash. I currently live in Quito, Ecuador.
I *just* had a couple guys snag my watch off me while walking home. Not with a weapon that I could see, but they grabbed it and were obviously going to fight for it. Then I get home and this is the top story on Slashdot...:rolls eyes:
May not be exactly the same, but FlightGear has a pretty good database of global 3D geography. AFAIK it's all Free.
I'd *love* to make an easy to use way to create scenic flythrus based on FG's graphics engine. The work is pretty much done, it's just that their program integrates it with a flight simulator.
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>>> You know I've been wondering this ever since the whole "lets replace Exchange" movement started. What is so unique about exchange that no one else (commercial or otherwise) has come out with a viable replacement? And no I don't consider "lockin" unique.
Very good question. It's highly pathetic IMHO. I keep hearing about organization after organization switching to Exchange, despite the fact that it's by far the most expensive available (my organization did a cost study on several different groupware/mail products, and we found that Exchange cost TEN TIMES what Bynari Insight would cost, and significantly more than the second most expensive) and a standards-non-compliance nightmare.
A company should ONLY consider Exchange if they've already virtually sold their soul to Microsoft. Other than that, please, accept any necessary inconveniences and just avoid it!
Consider the complexity of mail and groupware. It can't be squat compared to, say, the Linux Kernel. So why is it so evasive?
Perhaps the real problem is more Outlook and its proprietary protocols than anything else. Eventually, perhaps in a couple years, I expect that we will have a good fully Open Source solution that will also work with Windows clients and acceptable to the PHBs. That will be a great day, and I'm fairly sure that my organization would jump on it.
Just took a look at some of the code. Comments are in German! Not that there's anything wrong with German, but that might limit North American involvement in development.....
Other than that, the code seems organized well, from a quick glance.
A migration tool for openxchange that supports MS Exchange! It's commercial, but if you're already using Exchange, that shouldn't be TOO big a turn off. It might only support the commercial version of OpenXchange, not sure about that.
That might be the same with my organization, although Exchange (5.5) is only used in one location.
There's also Bynari Insight Server which has a somewhat impressive feature list, including an Exchange migration tool. We're testing it now. I would be interested in knowing if anyone here uses that.
> This is a bad thing because the punishment with the almighty cartels never fits the crime.
Ok, you might be right about that. Certainly, a fine of a few hundred dollars would probably do the trick.
But why can't people take responsibility for their actions? If they wouldn't have (knowingly) openned up their computing and networking resources to allow others download the copyrighted material for free, they wouldn't be in this jam. It's their own fault, period.
> Copyright infringement is wrong? That's debatable.
It is? Remember, our cherished Open Source licenses are all based on copyright law. If it's not wrong to copy music for friends, can I copy Linux kernel code into my proprietary application too?
Attitudes like yours are the kind that can get open source software in trouble. We need to take the high moral ground.
People were openly sharing copyrighted material without permission. That's illegal. Period. The law is right to crack down on them. As much as we can hate the RIAA, I don't see how they're wrong on this issue.
Now, there are plenty of good reasons to hate the RIAA. Like, that they have been trying to pass laws through Congress that limit our freedoms. That is downright outrageous and wrong.
Heck, these cases might prove that copyright law as it exists would be enough, and we don't need to add in any of Fritz Hollings' tripe to "protect" the RIAA!
Maybe there should be more of a difference and maybe not, but this is the first time I've seen comparable computers offered for LESS money with Linux instead of Windows, at least from a major manufacturer. I would call that a HUGE step in the right direction!
Thanks HP. I want to get a laptop within the next year, and you just moved to the top of my list!
Maybe, but I would like to think they know enough to figure out that the suits they have need to be settled, or at least SOMETHING needs to go their way, before it would make any sense to start something else.
Now can someone PLEASE get something like this down here to Ecuador, where I'm still paying $80/month for an unreliable 96k cable connection?
well, the original Halloween document somewhat contradicts that. No, not official, but shows that someone was likely thinking of it.
... until Open Source starts taking large shares of their base market. That could be 2-5 years away.
Personally, I expect that they'll use their portfolio defensively
That's why we need to work NOW to restore sanity to the patent system.
I'm trying to talk my organization (about 750 desktops) into switching to Firefox as the standard.
Everyone in IT seems to agree that it's the better browser, but the resistance to switching mainly comes from having to install it on 750 boxes and training users. It doesn't seem to me like training should be that big a deal, since it's just a web browser, but some users tend to ask really stupid questions....
There's also the problem with it not working on some banking sites, but that can likely be resolved by the User Agent Switcher plugin.
Nope.
I've been using MBNA's net payment for a while. It had always worked with Mozilla just fine.
Then, a few months ago, they switched to some other payment service. It said I either needed up upgrade my Netscape (I was using the latest Mozilla!) or switch to IE.
I downloaded Firefox and installed the User Agent Switcher plugin, and it worked just fine.
Fortunately, since then, they have started allowing connections with regular Mozilla, so everything is good! I didn't even have to complain, though I likely would have eventually.
Which is a good thing, because MS is a 800lb gorilla in the IT industry, but a midget compared to Bank of America or Citigroup.
Microsoft's market cap: $300 billion
Bank of America: $171 billion
Citigroup: $232 billion
I just bought some put options on Starbucks' stock. This can't be good....
I can't believe no one has mentioned WordStar yet (I searched the comments even!).
WordStar 6 was by far the best word processor of its day. No moving your hand away from home row. Built-in thesaurus. Good graphical page preview. Control the aspects of your document with "dot commands" that could be easily copied around if you needed.
Image insertion was possible but a pain in the arse.
Actually, you would own the physical car, just as you would own the physical disks of your software. But you don't own the intellectual property of the software unless you wrote it (and then only if you hadn't sold the rights). Same with a car. You don't own the code in its onboard computer either; you just have the right to use it (and, unlike OSS/FS, no rights to change it).
> I believe in ownership. I believe it is my right to own what I buy.
Of course, technically, you don't "own" any software, except maybe that which is in the public domain. You certainly don't "own" the copy of Linux you use any more than you would own Windows. The folks that wrote the code own it.
You have freedom, yes, but you don't own it.
How many of those businesses would have started had the owners known in advance that they would not make any money????
* Open standards are essential, and Microsoft is Public Enemy #1 of open standards.
:)
* When one company has complete control of our computing environment, quality is sure to go down and prices up. Sound familiar?
* Like the UNIX way of doing things.
* Microsoft's business practices.
* Instability/viruses/spyware -- I get none of that with Linux!
There are probably more reasons, but that's good enough for me.
Dunno. I was just robbed of my watch tonight. I'm in a good sized Latin American capital city, and it was a bit after dark. Not a lot of people out. I was walking along, and two guys were ahead of me. When I angled my walk to the left or right in order to pass them, I could see them doing the same, following my moves, from several meters away.
Do you think turning around and running would have been wise? I thought about it, but what if they could run faster than me? I asked my roommate, who has more experience here than I do, and he thought running would have been a bad idea.
I can run reasonably fast, but only for a couple minutes at a time.
> I used to live in Mexico and travelled through southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras with a laptop, a digital camera, and a few thousand pesos in my daypack the entire time.
.... I also have a good amount of experience in Central and South America, a total of over 9 months.
... unfortunately, that time was a couple hours ago. :( Fortunately, it was "just" a watch and they didn't look in my pockets for the cell phone and cash. I currently live in Quito, Ecuador.
Yeah
Only once have I had anything stolen
I *just* had a couple guys snag my watch off me while walking home. Not with a weapon that I could see, but they grabbed it and were obviously going to fight for it. Then I get home and this is the top story on Slashdot... :rolls eyes:
May not be exactly the same, but FlightGear has a pretty good database of global 3D geography. AFAIK it's all Free.
I'd *love* to make an easy to use way to create scenic flythrus based on FG's graphics engine. The work is pretty much done, it's just that their program integrates it with a flight simulator.
AMEN!!!!
Any idea which is the best video card that is well supported in 2D and 3D acceleration with totally Free/Open Source drivers?
I'm still using a Matrox G400, which is OK for now, but eventually I'll want to get something at least a little better.
All I want to do is play some damn mp3s on this damn thing.
Why, there's your problem right there! Perhaps you should try to play some MP3s that aren't damned, on a computer that isn't damned. Duh!
Ok, sorry, couldn't resist....