We have Lotus Notes where I work and use it heavily. I'm no big fan of it but in its defense I must say that I can view and use it from a web browser. I do just that while out helping users and away from my machine (with the Lotus Notes client). As another plus I've got the Notes client running on my Linux box under Wine. Still, tossing Notes for a Wiki wouldn't break my heart...
That site really shook me up. The second item on the side-bar, the pencil shredder, was small enough that I first read it as penal grinder... That's going to take a while to get over.
There's an idea, just think of the potential income they could generate by retrieving it and then selling it piece by piece over eBay! Would probably make up for the cost of retrieval and have enough left over to help foot the bill for the next telescope!
On the other hand, this is a massive leak for RedHat... if BitTorrent can always be relied upon to get the ISOs the day they're released to subscribers, then there is no incentive to become a RedHat subscriber...
If you subscribe just to get that 1 week jump on non-subscribers then you are wasting your money. The rush of people trying to pull down ISOs kept my download between 1 kbps and 10 kbps. More than a little disappointing.
Frankly, I think it's worth $60/year to use the convenient update features. Also it's a great product, I don't mind paying. In fact, I bought the $96 subscription even though I've only one system to maintain.
...only the state operated telecoms had the right to establish communications across property lines
GAH! This kind of stuff just makes you want to slap someone. According to this I'm breaking the law if I stand in the back yard and start talking to my neighbor who's standing in his backyard...
I mean really, come on. Terrorists have already proved themselves capable of hijacking commercial planes and levelling entire buildings. If you've got the smarts and resources to pull that off, what the hell do you need a model rocket for?
Rollerball wasn't exciting? You must be talking about the 2002 version. The one I remember from the 70s was pretty awesome. Admittedly, I was only 10 or 11 years old at the time. Now they need to hook a treadmill up to a game based on Rollerball...
PT Barnum is attributed to saying: "There's a sucker born every minute" but from the success of spam I'd say more than one every minute. There's alot of just plain STUPID people out there. I'm somewhat embarassed to admit how many I'm related to as well. Several family members have forwarded me the "FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE" to get a free Disney vacation, case of pop, etc. On eBay I saw some selling a link to a web site that would let you buy a "High-End" laptop for only $25, and they were getting bids for that "Top-Secret" link. It was over $50 when I saw it. As long as those suckers are out there willing to give there money away then the spammers are going to be there, in one form or another.
I've noticed a similar trend. Much spam had the.tw, but now I'm seeing equal quantities with the.uk, for whatever that's worth...
Re:An Ex-Trek Fan Speaks About The Club Scene
on
Trek Prop Collecting
·
· Score: 1
Books never seem to do well on eBay, from the sellers point of view.
Like you, I decided to unload a bunch of my old Star Trek stuff that I'd gotten way back in the 1970s.
It was about 2 years ago and went something like:
Phaser Battle (electronic game) : $75
Bridge Play Set : $50
Large Action Figures (10" or so) : $15-30 each
About 10 years ago I sold issues 1-10 of the Gold Key Star Trek comics but I forget now what I got for them...close to $100 for the first one and it went down from there. They weren't in the best of shape or I'm sure I'd have gotten more.
Yes, there was an occasional good message in the shows, but I'm afraid most of the hick audience is watching because of all the shiny and flashy things that "look real purdy".
I'm afraid I've noticed the same thing. Even before TNN started showing TNG I was noticing a large number of red necks and hicks saying things like "Ah shore lahk that thar Star Trek show!" with a big grin missing half a dozen teeth.
Of course, I used to be glued to the TV, whenever Star Trek was on, back in the 70s when I was in elementary school.
Re:They Get Money Anyway (Insight)
on
What Free Cable?
·
· Score: 1
Here in Northern Indiana our local company, Insight Comm., offers Internet access for only $35/month, if you already subscribe to them for Cable TV. If you just want Internet access, it's $45/month.
Can you guess what Basic Cable costs per month? Yup, about $10/month:)
The BBS was about the first really cool and semi useful thing I can remember doing with a computer. Back when I upgraded the old Vic-20 to a C-64 I ordered a BBS software package from Holland, Michigan. It was installed on a 5.25" diskette and I had a second drive with another 5.25" diskette for data. The thing only ran at 2400 baud was it was still alot of fun.
Had some simple message forums, a few downloads, a collaborative story book where users took turns adding their own chapters and a section to chat with the sysop. Called it Quicksilver BBS, located in Warsaw, Indiana.
Later I moved on to the PC platform with the World War II BBS and later tried Wildcat. With WWII I wrote my own "door" program add-ons in Turbo Pascal. Also had things like Trade Wars and all the other cool games of that time.
I never went as nuts as most people, we only had 2 phone lines coming into the thing. Oh, almost forgot, we also used Galacticom BBS just prior to closing down. I got involved playing text RPGs (Legends of Future Past) and that took up all the time and money I'd been using for the BBS.
I think even Legends was reachable through Novalinks BBS style front end back in the early days (Galacticom if I remember correctly) and was alot of fun for all text.
Just recently I ran across web pages for things like Synchro BBS that were running through Telnet. I'm thinking about finding one that runs under linux and using it as a front end for my Mud that's modelled after Legends of Future Past (Called Echoes of Future Past.
Cool stuff those Bulletin Boards, made alot of friends that I've since lost touch with. We used to have BBS parties where we'd all get together, eat pizza, talk computers, etc. Some parts I miss, but not the 2400 baud part:)
Re:I Cancelled My Earthlink Account
on
Disconnecting
·
· Score: 1
A good point, albeit off topic. I'll continue the off topic discussion...
emphasis on correctness and precision.
My college physics professor went off on a rant one day about the use of the word "precision" versus "accuracy". His point was that the word precision should be used when describing the quality of instruments, the word accuracy describes the quality of work we, the students, were doing.
In other words you can talk about the accuracy of your work, NOT the precision of your work. You can also talk about the precision of your measuring devices, NOT their accuracy.
I've looked up both words in the dictionary and the definitions don't entirely support his statements:
Precision:
1 : the quality or state of being precise : EXACTNESS 2 a : the degree of refinement with which an operation is performed or a measurement stated -- compare ACCURACY 2b b : the accuracy (as in binary or decimal places) with which a number can be represented usually expressed in terms of the number of computer words available for representation
Accuracy:
1 : freedom from mistake or error : CORRECTNESS 2 a : conformity to truth or to a standard or model : EXACTNESS b : degree of conformity of a measure to a standard or a true value -- compare PRECISION 2a
According to my professor the statement should have been:
...emphasis on correctness and accuracy.
I'm just curious if anyone else has ran accross this distinction in the usage of these two words.
Or is it just redundant to pair correctness up with either of these words?
Well, except that's *not* what Ad-Aware and similar products do. They *don't* make a clear connection between uninstalling 'spyware' and decreasing functionality of a program.
They most certainly DO make a clear connection. It's spelled out in the 3rd entry of the FAQ (Q: What will happen to the program if I remove the spyware?). On top of that, the user is allowed to backup all the things they are removing and then restore them later, if needed.
The spyware installers sure don't make anything near this clear and easy to remove!
I don't always like what Katz has to say, it's the things he gets others to say that I enjoy. His reviews make for some very interesting discussion that I like to read.
.NET according to Steve Ballmer & friends
on
What is .NET?
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
It's interesting that I just got back from Chicago, where MS put on a release party for Visual Studio.NET to approximately 6,000 attendees, and find this article on Slashdot.
I don't think they ever gave a straight-forward definition that clearly stated that.NET is this and this. If they did then I missed it.
The show started out with a welcome message from the Microsoft Technology Evangelist...no, really, that was his title.
Next came Steve Ballmer who came out to work the crowd into a frenzy and tout all the things.NET could do. He introduced and chatted with several MS employees on some of the things.NET could do. I especially liked their comparison to Sun's J2EE Pet Store sample application. They've got this comparison available on the web at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/compare/default.asp
(I hope Sun posts a followup on Microsofts claims in this comparison)
After this they worked the crowd into another frenzy by randomly giving away three of the XBox games. Then they brought out some folks who gave success stories on implementing.NET. After three of these we broke for lunch and I went home, still not being clear on what.NET is, exactly.
All in all it seemed like I heard mention of several different items:
.NET
Visual Studio.NET
.NET Framework
.NET MyServices
.NET Server...and probably some others I missed. I'm going to visit Microsoft.NET Defined and see if that helps clear anything up...
I've bypassed shareware/trialware protections schemes in the past and I've done it for one of two reasons:
1. The protected version was crippled and I couldn't truly try all the features before buying.
2. The trial period was just too short
After I could really try all features for a useful evaluation period I bought the ones that proved useful and scrapped the others to try something else.
Proxy servers are a good example. I tried about 3 before I decided on Fortech's Proxy+. When I decided it was worth it I bought two 10 user licenses. After I outgrew these I upgraded one to the unlimited license. Fortech's trial only allowed 2 users which wasn't all that bad, but I really needed to see how it worked under the heavier loads I'd be putting it under since my bandwidth is limited (3 bonded 56k dialups)
Another good example is VMWare Workstation. In the 30 day trial I was unable to convince the boss how useful this program was. After I was able to run it for 5 months I had finally shown him enough examples of it's usefullness that he not only bought me a $299 license, he also bought himself one.
I've gone through similar things and finally paid for programs like:
CuteFTP, ZMud, WinZip, and an assortment of games.
Slashdot Mirror
Uh...am I the only one who sees a problem with trying to get night vision using *solar* implants???
We have Lotus Notes where I work and use it heavily. I'm no big fan of it but in its defense I must say that I can view and use it from a web browser. I do just that while out helping users and away from my machine (with the Lotus Notes client).
As another plus I've got the Notes client running on my Linux box under Wine.
Still, tossing Notes for a Wiki wouldn't break my heart...
That site really shook me up. The second item on the side-bar, the pencil shredder, was small enough that I first read it as penal grinder...
That's going to take a while to get over.
There's an idea, just think of the potential income they could generate by retrieving it and then selling it piece by piece over eBay!
Would probably make up for the cost of retrieval and have enough left over to help foot the bill for the next telescope!
I didn't realize the BOFH ever had time to attend movies...
If you subscribe just to get that 1 week jump on non-subscribers then you are wasting your money. The rush of people trying to pull down ISOs kept my download between 1 kbps and 10 kbps. More than a little disappointing.
Frankly, I think it's worth $60/year to use the convenient update features. Also it's a great product, I don't mind paying. In fact, I bought the $96 subscription even though I've only one system to maintain.
GAH! This kind of stuff just makes you want to slap someone. According to this I'm breaking the law if I stand in the back yard and start talking to my neighbor who's standing in his backyard...
I mean really, come on. Terrorists have already proved themselves capable of hijacking commercial planes and levelling entire buildings. If you've got the smarts and resources to pull that off, what the hell do you need a model rocket for?
Rollerball wasn't exciting? You must be talking about the 2002 version. The one I remember from the 70s was pretty awesome. Admittedly, I was only 10 or 11 years old at the time.
Now they need to hook a treadmill up to a game based on Rollerball...
PT Barnum is attributed to saying:
"There's a sucker born every minute"
but from the success of spam I'd say more than one every minute. There's alot of just plain STUPID people out there.
I'm somewhat embarassed to admit how many I'm related to as well. Several family members have forwarded me the "FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE" to get a free Disney vacation, case of pop, etc.
On eBay I saw some selling a link to a web site that would let you buy a "High-End" laptop for only $25, and they were getting bids for that "Top-Secret" link. It was over $50 when I saw it.
As long as those suckers are out there willing to give there money away then the spammers are going to be there, in one form or another.
Was wondering how you use computer tedchnology to help in cooking and preparing for your shows. For instance:
If you use a computer, what brand and type is it?
What operating system does the pc run?
What software do you maintain recipe archives with? (Commercial like Mastercook or self made?)
What websites do you find most useful for getting cooking info, other than your own?
When are you coming out to my place to do a grilling show from my back deck?
I've noticed a similar trend. Much spam had the .tw, but now I'm seeing equal quantities with the .uk, for whatever that's worth...
Books never seem to do well on eBay, from the sellers point of view.
Like you, I decided to unload a bunch of my old Star Trek stuff that I'd gotten way back in the 1970s.
It was about 2 years ago and went something like:
Phaser Battle (electronic game) : $75
Bridge Play Set : $50
Large Action Figures (10" or so) : $15-30 each
About 10 years ago I sold issues 1-10 of the Gold Key Star Trek comics but I forget now what I got for them...close to $100 for the first one and it went down from there. They weren't in the best of shape or I'm sure I'd have gotten more.
Yes, there was an occasional good message in the shows, but I'm afraid most of the hick audience is watching because of all the shiny and flashy things that "look real purdy".
I'm afraid I've noticed the same thing. Even before TNN started showing TNG I was noticing a large number of red necks and hicks saying things like "Ah shore lahk that thar Star Trek show!" with a big grin missing half a dozen teeth.
Of course, I used to be glued to the TV, whenever Star Trek was on, back in the 70s when I was in elementary school.
Here in Northern Indiana our local company, Insight Comm., offers Internet access for only $35/month, if you already subscribe to them for Cable TV. If you just want Internet access, it's $45/month.
:)
Can you guess what Basic Cable costs per month? Yup, about $10/month
Yep, I remember it. I'm not sure how active the development is, but they've still got a web page at Synchro.net.
The BBS was about the first really cool and semi useful thing I can remember doing with a computer. Back when I upgraded the old Vic-20 to a C-64 I ordered a BBS software package from Holland, Michigan. It was installed on a 5.25" diskette and I had a second drive with another 5.25" diskette for data. The thing only ran at 2400 baud was it was still alot of fun.
:)
Had some simple message forums, a few downloads, a collaborative story book where users took turns adding their own chapters and a section to chat with the sysop. Called it Quicksilver BBS, located in Warsaw, Indiana.
Later I moved on to the PC platform with the World War II BBS and later tried Wildcat. With WWII I wrote my own "door" program add-ons in Turbo Pascal. Also had things like Trade Wars and all the other cool games of that time.
I never went as nuts as most people, we only had 2 phone lines coming into the thing. Oh, almost forgot, we also used Galacticom BBS just prior to closing down. I got involved playing text RPGs (Legends of Future Past) and that took up all the time and money I'd been using for the BBS.
I think even Legends was reachable through Novalinks BBS style front end back in the early days (Galacticom if I remember correctly) and was alot of fun for all text.
Just recently I ran across web pages for things like Synchro BBS that were running through Telnet. I'm thinking about finding one that runs under linux and using it as a front end for my Mud that's modelled after Legends of Future Past (Called Echoes of Future Past.
Cool stuff those Bulletin Boards, made alot of friends that I've since lost touch with. We used to have BBS parties where we'd all get together, eat pizza, talk computers, etc. Some parts I miss, but not the 2400 baud part
That URL isn't quite right, try:
t / earn_cancel.jsp
http://support.earthlink.net/support/FORMS/produc
emphasis on correctness and precision.
My college physics professor went off on a rant one day about the use of the word "precision" versus "accuracy". His point was that the word precision should be used when describing the quality of instruments, the word accuracy describes the quality of work we, the students, were doing.
In other words you can talk about the accuracy of your work, NOT the precision of your work. You can also talk about the precision of your measuring devices, NOT their accuracy.
I've looked up both words in the dictionary and the definitions don't entirely support his statements:
Precision:
1 : the quality or state of being precise : EXACTNESS
2 a : the degree of refinement with which an operation is performed or a measurement stated -- compare ACCURACY 2b b : the accuracy (as in binary or decimal places) with which a number can be represented usually expressed in terms of the number of computer words available for representation
Accuracy:
1 : freedom from mistake or error : CORRECTNESS
2 a : conformity to truth or to a standard or model : EXACTNESS b : degree of conformity of a measure to a standard or a true value -- compare PRECISION 2a
According to my professor the statement should have been:
...emphasis on correctness and accuracy.
I'm just curious if anyone else has ran accross this distinction in the usage of these two words.
Or is it just redundant to pair correctness up with either of these words?
They most certainly DO make a clear connection. It's spelled out in the 3rd entry of the FAQ (Q: What will happen to the program if I remove the spyware?). On top of that, the user is allowed to backup all the things they are removing and then restore them later, if needed.
The spyware installers sure don't make anything near this clear and easy to remove!
I don't always like what Katz has to say, it's the things he gets others to say that I enjoy. His reviews make for some very interesting discussion that I like to read.
I don't think they ever gave a straight-forward definition that clearly stated that .NET is this and this. If they did then I missed it. .NET could do. He introduced and chatted with several MS employees on some of the things .NET could do. I especially liked their comparison to Sun's J2EE Pet Store sample application. They've got this comparison available on the web at: .NET. After three of these we broke for lunch and I went home, still not being clear on what .NET is, exactly.
The show started out with a welcome message from the Microsoft Technology Evangelist...no, really, that was his title.
Next came Steve Ballmer who came out to work the crowd into a frenzy and tout all the things
http://msdn.microsoft.com/net/compare/default.asp
(I hope Sun posts a followup on Microsofts claims in this comparison)
After this they worked the crowd into another frenzy by randomly giving away three of the XBox games. Then they brought out some folks who gave success stories on implementing
All in all it seemed like I heard mention of several different items:
.NET
Visual Studio .NET
.NET Framework
.NET MyServices
.NET Server ...and probably some others I missed. I'm going to visit Microsoft .NET Defined and see if that helps clear anything up...
I've registered and paid for approximately 20 copies of WinZip at work.
1. The protected version was crippled and I couldn't truly try all the features before buying.
2. The trial period was just too short
After I could really try all features for a useful evaluation period I bought the ones that proved useful and scrapped the others to try something else.
Proxy servers are a good example. I tried about 3 before I decided on Fortech's Proxy+. When I decided it was worth it I bought two 10 user licenses. After I outgrew these I upgraded one to the unlimited license. Fortech's trial only allowed 2 users which wasn't all that bad, but I really needed to see how it worked under the heavier loads I'd be putting it under since my bandwidth is limited (3 bonded 56k dialups)
Another good example is VMWare Workstation. In the 30 day trial I was unable to convince the boss how useful this program was. After I was able to run it for 5 months I had finally shown him enough examples of it's usefullness that he not only bought me a $299 license, he also bought himself one.
I've gone through similar things and finally paid for programs like:
CuteFTP, ZMud, WinZip, and an assortment of games.