One thing that everyone seems to be missing is the question of how important the data is to you. IF the loss of a server (for an hour/day/etc.) is going to cost you $10,000 (purely an example figure) then you could probably justify putting around $10,000 or so into a nice top of the line server (you'd still have to skimp on things at that price, but still, it's to give you an idea). IF, on the other hand, having the server down for a day or the data loss you experienced costs your company only a couple hundred and happens very infrequently, then I wouldn't think you should spend $1000s on a beefed up server, but instead find a nice UPS, or just pump some money into a Service Level Agreement for the server, or even for offsite backups. It's all about your bottom line...don't just spend money on a server because of this one time. Fix the problem, but keep in mind how large of a problem it is to start with.
One of the biggest problems I usually run into that no one has mentioned yet is this: when searching the literature, I don't know what terms/keywords I should be searching for to find the code to solve the problem.
For example, one project I worked on was an interactive calendar application that would dynamically place multi-day events across the days on which they occurred. Well, I needed those event bars to be as compact as possible, so I searched for an algorithm to figure this out... After 3 days of searching and finding nothing, I asked a Computer Science professor at the local university and he couldn't come up with anything either. I know there is code to solve this type of problem, but I simply couldn't find the keywords to use to locate the code.
And just to chime in about what everyone else has mentioned:
My top reason for not using public code is the lack of quality documentation. If I didn't write it, it's really hard for me to understand it and make use of code without putting in considerable time studying the code, which is more time than I have.
...or did the rest of you that actually read the patents notice that they spend much more time talking about the browser itself than the navigation issues. The navigation stuff is actually mentioned in the document, but the majority of it is simply describing "browser.exe" and how it works in displaying this information...as in they appear to almost patent the way it is displayed on screen, but not the actual use of navigational elements. Also, from the rather vague wording they are using in the letter (also in the patents link above) it seems that just having your navigational links visually seperated from the main body of the site (ie. FRAMES or not) is still something they are going after. Maybe it's just me reading it wrong (which is entirely possible) but it just seems like this lawsuit simply isn't going to stand up in court and neither will any other ones if they are of the same nature. (Just my 10 cents.)
You might want to look at the tech specs a little closer before wanting to use this thing... 90lbs of recoil might not feel too good on your shoulder...
It seems like everyone one here thinks the only users of computers on campus are the students. You have to keep in mind that it's the faculty and administration that are probably going to have even more trouble than the students would.
Think about it, the administrative secretaries that have used MS Word for the last X years and have learned exactly what the button looks like that does so and so would be totally lost if you just up and moved them to something so radically different.
Granted, if everyone understood what the computer was doing and what, for example, the magical thing called a "Mail Merge" actually tries to accomplish instead of knowing, I need envelopes printed so I click this "Mail Merge" thing, then everything would be a little easier...
I don't know if any of that makes a lot of sense to the people that haven't actually worked in an IT department, but as a current student and IT worker at a major university, you need to think about the whole picture.
Another thing to mention (which may have already been mentioned before I get done typing this) is that software is just a tool. It doesn't matter if you're running Linux, OSX, Windows, DOS, custom ASM kernel, etc.... all that matters is does the software you use accomplish the job and is it the best tool to use to accomplish the job.
I would really like to see just how much the CS world could accomplish if religious wars over dinky stuff like this never existed...oh well, until then, the wars are fun to read!;)
Slashdot Mirror
One thing that everyone seems to be missing is the question of how important the data is to you. IF the loss of a server (for an hour/day/etc.) is going to cost you $10,000 (purely an example figure) then you could probably justify putting around $10,000 or so into a nice top of the line server (you'd still have to skimp on things at that price, but still, it's to give you an idea). IF, on the other hand, having the server down for a day or the data loss you experienced costs your company only a couple hundred and happens very infrequently, then I wouldn't think you should spend $1000s on a beefed up server, but instead find a nice UPS, or just pump some money into a Service Level Agreement for the server, or even for offsite backups. It's all about your bottom line...don't just spend money on a server because of this one time. Fix the problem, but keep in mind how large of a problem it is to start with.
One of the biggest problems I usually run into that no one has mentioned yet is this: when searching the literature, I don't know what terms/keywords I should be searching for to find the code to solve the problem.
For example, one project I worked on was an interactive calendar application that would dynamically place multi-day events across the days on which they occurred. Well, I needed those event bars to be as compact as possible, so I searched for an algorithm to figure this out... After 3 days of searching and finding nothing, I asked a Computer Science professor at the local university and he couldn't come up with anything either. I know there is code to solve this type of problem, but I simply couldn't find the keywords to use to locate the code.
And just to chime in about what everyone else has mentioned:
My top reason for not using public code is the lack of quality documentation. If I didn't write it, it's really hard for me to understand it and make use of code without putting in considerable time studying the code, which is more time than I have.
-Adam
...or did the rest of you that actually read the patents notice that they spend much more time talking about the browser itself than the navigation issues. The navigation stuff is actually mentioned in the document, but the majority of it is simply describing "browser.exe" and how it works in displaying this information...as in they appear to almost patent the way it is displayed on screen, but not the actual use of navigational elements. Also, from the rather vague wording they are using in the letter (also in the patents link above) it seems that just having your navigational links visually seperated from the main body of the site (ie. FRAMES or not) is still something they are going after. Maybe it's just me reading it wrong (which is entirely possible) but it just seems like this lawsuit simply isn't going to stand up in court and neither will any other ones if they are of the same nature. (Just my 10 cents.)
-Adam
You might want to look at the tech specs a little closer before wanting to use this thing... 90lbs of recoil might not feel too good on your shoulder...
-Adam
It seems like everyone one here thinks the only users of computers on campus are the students. You have to keep in mind that it's the faculty and administration that are probably going to have even more trouble than the students would.
;)
Think about it, the administrative secretaries that have used MS Word for the last X years and have learned exactly what the button looks like that does so and so would be totally lost if you just up and moved them to something so radically different.
Granted, if everyone understood what the computer was doing and what, for example, the magical thing called a "Mail Merge" actually tries to accomplish instead of knowing, I need envelopes printed so I click this "Mail Merge" thing, then everything would be a little easier...
I don't know if any of that makes a lot of sense to the people that haven't actually worked in an IT department, but as a current student and IT worker at a major university, you need to think about the whole picture.
Another thing to mention (which may have already been mentioned before I get done typing this) is that software is just a tool. It doesn't matter if you're running Linux, OSX, Windows, DOS, custom ASM kernel, etc.... all that matters is does the software you use accomplish the job and is it the best tool to use to accomplish the job.
I would really like to see just how much the CS world could accomplish if religious wars over dinky stuff like this never existed...oh well, until then, the wars are fun to read!
-Adam