It would cost you about $5,000 for a citrix mainframe that could serve 100 people and have them use your company's resources (probably the same machine) for dialup.
Citrix licensing for 100 people would cost more than $5,000. Let alone the hardware capable of supporting 100 people. I find it doubtful that a $5,000 server would support 100 people using Citrix.
Alternatively, they could all run X, and you could pay about ten times as much for the 4MB/sec for each person that would be necessary for a decent X connection.
I think you mean 4Mb. Most networks handle this amount of traffic quite well. My site has hundreds of developers using X (a mix of X terminals and eXceed on Windows). Our broken ring network keeps up with the traffic quite well.
I try X now and again, but I always have to twiddle my thumbs while the program loads, and every time I click on anything which opens another window, menu, or dialog box, which happens quite frequently.
What exactly are you trying to do with X?
VNC CAN be horribly, horribly bad, if you use more than 256 colors
Most people greatly prefer to use more than 256 colors, myself included.
my experience has been that if you do it right it is much more responsive than X even after X loads (with the notable exception of text-only applications, which take advantage of the font server).
What comporable programs have you run in X and VNC to compare? Have you run spreadsheets in both? GUI text editors in both?
Citrix blows this out of the water - it uses about 2kbps for full (indistinguishable from non-network use) responsiveness, and then the only question is latency. If you can get it down to under 100ms, you shouldn't notice the difference much from running stuff on your local machine.
This ignores the question of how much iron you've got running the application server. If you've actually got 100 people running applications off of the server, you've invested in some serious hardware.
...there are transparent solutions for the Windows desktop that use FAR less resources
Citrix and WTS may be less network intensive than X. However, both require much more of a hefty server than X requires at the client. (For all practical purposes X client/server terminology is backwards.)
TightVNC is lower bandwidth
And also solves a different problem. Not to mention that VNC refresh rates are abysmal compared to X. A spreadsheet (or drawing app or whatever) launched through X is much more responsive at the XServer than that same program hosted through VNC. (Citrix and WTS also suffer from this problem.)
I use both X programs and WTS programs every day. I grit my teeth and twiddle my thumbs (and sometimes go get coffee) when I start up the X programs. But once its launched, response is quite good (except for database reads, but that is a different problem). With the WTS (and VNC) programs, the launch is faster, but that wait is staggered over every button press and mouse click. I much prefer the network transparency of X.
Microsoft (and Corel also I would presume) foist tech support for OEM software onto the PC manufacturer. To get Microsoft support for a product bundled with a PC, one has to pay by the minute. I would be greatly surprised if Corel and other software makers did not have the same policy in force.
Point one. You are correct. IE is extensible. Although the availability of source code makes Mozilla more extensible by an order of magnitude. (However, this extended extensibility that Mozilla has over IE is only of value to a minority of developers. That said, for that minority, the issue is of paramount importance.)
Point two is not only correct, as you yourself admit, but is most certainly not irrelevant as you claim. Between desktop boxes, PDAs, embedded systems and non-Windows PCs, IE does not have a 99% market share. I think that perhaps you are confusing a particular segment (commercial retail) of commercial software with the universe of commercial software.
Point three is probably correct despite your denial. I'm fairly certain that the previous poster was referring to mshtml.dll and not IE itself. While IE provides a powerful and flexible toolkit, the fact remains that if there is a need to alter the core behavior of the toolkit there is no method for the developer to do so aside from petitioning Microsoft to change the behavior. This is not the case with Mozilla.
Do the Open Office DB components allow one to manage third party databases by point and click?
Say what you will about Adabas, but it works quite well as a desktop database. Is it the optimal solution? No. Are there better alternatives? Yes, but they currently all cost money (Filemaker, Access, Paradox). PostgreSQL (or mySQL for that matter) are overkill for most desktop database needs.
My wife hates Star Office 5.2 for many reasons. The two biggest are:
Crappy online documentation
Lack of in-depth third party documentation
While there are now dozens of books available about Star Office, most (if not all) are useless. Star Office has quite a lot of features that are documented very poorly.
(As an aside, she's holding off upgrading to Open Office until the database integration is more complete. Her primary use for an office suite is the database.)
Don't forget, a lot of AOL users (and dialup users in general) have a second phone line already just for internet access.
I imagine that the set of dial-up users with a second line for internet connectivity is a relatively small (perhaps insignificant) portion of the set of all dial-up internet users. This is especially the case when phone companies offer services such as voice mail and instant messages. For example, the local telco where I live offers a service where when a phone call comes in while the user is connected to the internet, a window pops up to inform the user that a call has come in. The user then has the option to click a button, and answer the phone, talk for as long as he or she pleases, hang up and resume surfing without needing to drop off and reconnect to the ISP.
Given a world of pagers, wireless phones, internet access at public libraries, etc., I think that relatively few people have the need (or even desire) for a second phone line for internet connectivity.
Being a monopoly is wrong for any number of reasons: it means the monopoly has an unfair advantage with regard to a cash safety reserve, time to screw up and then try and try again until you get it right, customer "choice", and any number of other things.
I see this presumption again and again and it annoys me to no end. This presumption is blatantly wrong.
There is nothing illegal or immoral about holding a monopoly. That said, a company can (1) acquire a monopoly by illegal and/or immoral means; and/or (2) illegally and/or immorally abuse their monopoly status.
Many have alleged that Microsoft is guilty of the first of these. IIRC, Microsoft was convicted of the second.
Per Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Windows NT 3.5, and Windows NT 4.0 have had successful C2 (4.0 by ITSEC at a "roughly C2 level) security evaluations. (Notice W2K is missing from that list.) Bear in mind that C2 evaluations are done on specific hardware.
What you're missing here is that the league *claims* to be a 501(c) to the state of Delaware.
I've seen no evidence of such outside the assertions of the Linux and Main editorials. Given the apparent lack of accuracy in said editorials, I do not find them convincing. Among other problems, the Linux and Main editorialists do not appear to grasp the distinction between being tax exempt and being not-for-profit.
The by-laws of the KDE League (available on their web site) make no mention of tax exempt status. They do not state that donations are tax deductable. There is no reason to believe that the KDE League has ever claimed to anyone to be tax exempt.
States do not determine whether a group is tax exempt or not; the IRS does.
Strictly speaking, this is not entirely correct. Obviously only a federal body (such as the IRS) can make a determination on whether or not an organization is federally tax exempt. However, each state has within its power to determine whether or not an organization is also exempt from state taxes. (An exception to this is where federal law prohibits certain types of state taxes to be levied against certain types of institutions.)
Why are people so willing to give these guys the benefit of the doubt when they have repeatedly offered unclear and inconcsistent explainations of their activity? Just because they are affiliated with the open source community? Please, take your blinders off. Something smells in the state of Delaware, folks, whether you want to believe it or not.
The fact of the matter is that it is a trivial action to verify that status of the KDE League through the clerk of courts of the state of Delaware. That none of the parties making the allegations that the League claims to be a 501(c) have done so gives a distinct lack of credibility to those allegations.
It isn't a matter of having blinders on. It is a matter of the person making an assertion having the onus of proving that assertion when it is disputable. In the context of what little I know of corporate law, Andreas Pour's counter assertions make much more sense than Dennis Powell's accusations. Until such time as Linux and Main shows concrete evidence of their allegations (such as a copy of the KDE League's application for a corporate charter), I'll continue to be quite skeptical of their claims.
IIRC, it took about 5 months for half.com to rectify the mistake they made when I last purchased a book from their web site. In my case, it was error in their software that listed a book with the same name as another under the ISBN of that other book. Boy was the seller surprised when they received my email claiming I received the wrong book. I had thought the seller was just being a dork, but 5 months later I got an explanatory note from half.com and a refund.
I mean, do real people really bid $99.04 for an item?
I almost always make my bid end in a quirky amount. The reason being that Ebay autoincrements by standard amounts (0.25, 0.50, 1.00). Given that most people bid even amounts (9.50, 10.00), I'll make my maximum bid something like 10.04. Hence, my bid will win over the more frequent maximum bid of 10.00.
But since Ebay autoincrements in even amounts, if I win over a bid that is at the last even amount prior to my maximum bid and then subsequently get outbid, the new high bid will still carry the.04.
Especially when you see that the same bidder has bid on all of the seller's auctions but yet never seems to win.
That would make me suspicious as well. Although, such has happened to me before where I've consistently been outbid at my maximum amount in several auctions prior to finding an ad written so poorly most searches miss it.
They are an nonprofit corporation incorporated in the state of Delaware. You can write to the clerk of courts of the state of Delaware and get copy of their articles of incorporation. If the KDE Leage was also a tax exempt organization (which they claim their not), you could also write to them and request a copy of their IRS Form 1023 (or 1024) for the past three financial periods.
The debate is not over whether or not the KDE League has to file tax forms. The debate is over whether or not the KDE League has any obligation to disclose key financial documents to the public.
For tax exempt nonprofit organizations, public disclosure of certain documents is mandatory. In this context it matters a great deal as to whether or not the KDE Leauge is a tax exempt organization.
Bear in mind, that not all nonprofit organzations are tax exempt. A good example is that most Politcal Action Committees (PACs) are organized as nonprofit organizations. However, PACs are precluded from having tax exempt status.
The page you linked to deals exclusively with the disclosure obligations of tax exempt organizations. Not all nonprofits are tax exempt.
Most nonprofit organizations file normal corporate tax returns and face no more disclosure rules than any other private organization. It is only those nonprofit organizations that have also filed for and have received tax exempt status from the IRS that face additional disclosure requirements.
Put bluntly, the IRS doesn't concern itself with whether or not a corporation is incorporated as a nonprofit organization. The IRS only cares that the corporation pays its federal taxes unless that corporation has applied for and received tax exempt status.
Given that there is no reason to believe that the KDE league has applied for (much less received) tax exempt status, there is no reason to believe that the KDE league faces additional disclosure requirements over any other non-public corporation.
You may also be interested in reading the Delaware Revised Code on the subject. See especially Title 8, Chapter 1.
Re:Still leaves questions unanswered
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More on the KDE League
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· Score: 4, Informative
There is no IRS not-for-profit database.
The database the OFB article refered to is the IRS Search for Charities web page.
If the KDE league is not a 501(c)3 then what the heck is the KDE league?
A tax exempt 501(c) organization is a an organization that meets certain requirements (one of which is being a not-for-profit organization) and has applied to and received tax exempt status from the IRS. Not-for-profits can also file for tax exempt status under 501(a) and 501(d). The IRS currently requires organizations that are tax exempt (except for private foundations) to provide public disclosure of certain tax forms such as the corporate 1023 or 1024. See FAQs regarding the Exempt Organization Public Disclosure Requirements for more information.
As the KDE league is not a 501(c) organization, it is one of the many other types of not-for-profit organizations recognized by the state of Delaware. See the The Nonprofit FAQ for more information about what type of not-for-profit organizations exist.
Read the Acts of Gord. Gord mentions in the aforementioned article, Contrary to popular mythology, the idea of selling a console at below cost is a rather new phenomenon. It it not an ancient practice handed down through the ages.
The bottom line is that the known facts are thus: the PS1 was profitable at its $299 US introductory price; there was never a loss on sales of the N64; it is arguable over whether the PS2 was ever sold at a significant loss; the Sega Saturn was the first actively marketed console to be sold at a loss, the Sega Dreamcast followed suit.
I find it doubtful that NES and SuperNES were ever sold at a loss. I'm willing to change my mind if you can find a good basis for the claim that they were.
Your personal PC cannot be controlled by the network admins like your employer-provided PC can. As such, it is a much larger security risk.
Saying "But it's a Mac..." is simply the logical fallacy of special pleading. If you don't understand why network admins wouldn't want a personal machine on the network, you don't understand security.
The real question is whether or not the KDE league is also a tax exempt corporation. As a general rule, nonprofits are not tax exempt. Only corporations that apply for and receive tax exempt status are considered to be tax exempt. Generally speaking, a corporation has to exist for entirely charitable, religious or educational purposes to receive tax exempt status. There are much less stringent rules to be considered nonprofit.
This is a key distinction because AFAIK in terms of federal laws (and most states because the states tend to follow the feds on this) it is only those nonprofit organizations that are tax exempt corporations that must disclose certain financial statements such as their corporate income tax return.
There is no meaningful distinction between nonprofit and not-for-profit. There is a large distinction between nonprofit (and not-for-profit) and tax exempt. Most tax exempt organizations have to make certain financial statements available to anyone who requests them at the cost of a reasonable fee for duplication.
To make things clearer, some nonprofit organizations are tax exempt (most Churches, most charitable organizations, some schools, etc.). Other nonprofit orgnizations are not usually tax exempt (political action committees, co-ops, neighborhood associations, etc.).
Being a nonprofit (for the most part) simply means that profits are not payed out to shareholders. This does not mean that the corporation cannot make a profit. Nor does this mean that the corporation is tax exempt. Tax exempt status usually means not only that the corporation doesn't have to pay taxes on its income, but that donations to the corporation are tax deductable. Because of the donation item, tax exempt organizations are generally held to a higher state of transparency than other nonprofits.
If the KDE League is not a tax exempt corporation (and not publically held), I do not believe that there is any law that states they must publically detail any financial statements. I could be wrong on that.
You can check out the Delaware Revised Code if you like. As the KDE League is incorporated in Delaware, this is the law that governs their incorporation.
Nintendo is only different in that Sony and Microsoft have been much more daring than Nintendo in terms of how much initial loss they will bear on the consoles before profitibility comes about.
The difference between Nintendo and Sony on one hand and Microsoft on the other is that Microsoft is willing to take a sizable loss on the cost of goods sold. Nintendo and Sony take only a nominal loss on production costs (assuming each unit manufactured is sold). It is debatable how much (if any) Sony lost per unit on the PS2 if one does not include R&D.
With the exception of the Gamecube, Nintendo consoles have always sold at a profit. Nintendo expects to eventually realize a profit on the Gamecube hardware after depreciation of R&D and increases in production efficiency decrease the cost per unit manufactured. If you don't believe me, peruse Nintendo shareholder reports and read Gord's infamous column concerning how with the X-Box, Microsoft appeared to be deadset in repeating most of Sega's mistakes with the Dreamcast.
If you look at the history of gaming consoles, for the most part only consoles that were about to tank ended up being sold at a loss. A good example is Sega. Who sold several consoles at a loss before bailing out of the hardware business.
Slashdot Mirror
And then we ought not to leave out Windows CE and Stinger ...
I use both X programs and WTS programs every day. I grit my teeth and twiddle my thumbs (and sometimes go get coffee) when I start up the X programs. But once its launched, response is quite good (except for database reads, but that is a different problem). With the WTS (and VNC) programs, the launch is faster, but that wait is staggered over every button press and mouse click. I much prefer the network transparency of X.
Installation is a moot point, IMO. One only goes through installation once.
I've already mentioned that the documentation is horrible.
As for single user databases, such are very common in the SOHO environment.
Microsoft (and Corel also I would presume) foist tech support for OEM software onto the PC manufacturer. To get Microsoft support for a product bundled with a PC, one has to pay by the minute. I would be greatly surprised if Corel and other software makers did not have the same policy in force.
Point two is not only correct, as you yourself admit, but is most certainly not irrelevant as you claim. Between desktop boxes, PDAs, embedded systems and non-Windows PCs, IE does not have a 99% market share. I think that perhaps you are confusing a particular segment (commercial retail) of commercial software with the universe of commercial software.
Point three is probably correct despite your denial. I'm fairly certain that the previous poster was referring to mshtml.dll and not IE itself. While IE provides a powerful and flexible toolkit, the fact remains that if there is a need to alter the core behavior of the toolkit there is no method for the developer to do so aside from petitioning Microsoft to change the behavior. This is not the case with Mozilla.
Say what you will about Adabas, but it works quite well as a desktop database. Is it the optimal solution? No. Are there better alternatives? Yes, but they currently all cost money (Filemaker, Access, Paradox). PostgreSQL (or mySQL for that matter) are overkill for most desktop database needs.
While there are now dozens of books available about Star Office, most (if not all) are useless. Star Office has quite a lot of features that are documented very poorly.
(As an aside, she's holding off upgrading to Open Office until the database integration is more complete. Her primary use for an office suite is the database.)
Given a world of pagers, wireless phones, internet access at public libraries, etc., I think that relatively few people have the need (or even desire) for a second phone line for internet connectivity.
There is nothing illegal or immoral about holding a monopoly. That said, a company can (1) acquire a monopoly by illegal and/or immoral means; and/or (2) illegally and/or immorally abuse their monopoly status.
Many have alleged that Microsoft is guilty of the first of these. IIRC, Microsoft was convicted of the second.
I've seen no evidence of such outside the assertions of the Linux and Main editorials. Given the apparent lack of accuracy in said editorials, I do not find them convincing. Among other problems, the Linux and Main editorialists do not appear to grasp the distinction between being tax exempt and being not-for-profit.
The by-laws of the KDE League (available on their web site) make no mention of tax exempt status. They do not state that donations are tax deductable. There is no reason to believe that the KDE League has ever claimed to anyone to be tax exempt.
Strictly speaking, this is not entirely correct. Obviously only a federal body (such as the IRS) can make a determination on whether or not an organization is federally tax exempt. However, each state has within its power to determine whether or not an organization is also exempt from state taxes. (An exception to this is where federal law prohibits certain types of state taxes to be levied against certain types of institutions.)
The fact of the matter is that it is a trivial action to verify that status of the KDE League through the clerk of courts of the state of Delaware. That none of the parties making the allegations that the League claims to be a 501(c) have done so gives a distinct lack of credibility to those allegations.
It isn't a matter of having blinders on. It is a matter of the person making an assertion having the onus of proving that assertion when it is disputable. In the context of what little I know of corporate law, Andreas Pour's counter assertions make much more sense than Dennis Powell's accusations. Until such time as Linux and Main shows concrete evidence of their allegations (such as a copy of the KDE League's application for a corporate charter), I'll continue to be quite skeptical of their claims.
I almost always make my bid end in a quirky amount. The reason being that Ebay autoincrements by standard amounts (0.25, 0.50, 1.00). Given that most people bid even amounts (9.50, 10.00), I'll make my maximum bid something like 10.04. Hence, my bid will win over the more frequent maximum bid of 10.00.
But since Ebay autoincrements in even amounts, if I win over a bid that is at the last even amount prior to my maximum bid and then subsequently get outbid, the new high bid will still carry the .04.
That would make me suspicious as well. Although, such has happened to me before where I've consistently been outbid at my maximum amount in several auctions prior to finding an ad written so poorly most searches miss it.
They are an nonprofit corporation incorporated in the state of Delaware. You can write to the clerk of courts of the state of Delaware and get copy of their articles of incorporation. If the KDE Leage was also a tax exempt organization (which they claim their not), you could also write to them and request a copy of their IRS Form 1023 (or 1024) for the past three financial periods.
For tax exempt nonprofit organizations, public disclosure of certain documents is mandatory. In this context it matters a great deal as to whether or not the KDE Leauge is a tax exempt organization.
Bear in mind, that not all nonprofit organzations are tax exempt. A good example is that most Politcal Action Committees (PACs) are organized as nonprofit organizations. However, PACs are precluded from having tax exempt status.
Most nonprofit organizations file normal corporate tax returns and face no more disclosure rules than any other private organization. It is only those nonprofit organizations that have also filed for and have received tax exempt status from the IRS that face additional disclosure requirements.
Put bluntly, the IRS doesn't concern itself with whether or not a corporation is incorporated as a nonprofit organization. The IRS only cares that the corporation pays its federal taxes unless that corporation has applied for and received tax exempt status.
Given that there is no reason to believe that the KDE league has applied for (much less received) tax exempt status, there is no reason to believe that the KDE league faces additional disclosure requirements over any other non-public corporation.
You may also be interested in reading the Delaware Revised Code on the subject. See especially Title 8, Chapter 1.
The database the OFB article refered to is the IRS Search for Charities web page.
A tax exempt 501(c) organization is a an organization that meets certain requirements (one of which is being a not-for-profit organization) and has applied to and received tax exempt status from the IRS. Not-for-profits can also file for tax exempt status under 501(a) and 501(d). The IRS currently requires organizations that are tax exempt (except for private foundations) to provide public disclosure of certain tax forms such as the corporate 1023 or 1024. See FAQs regarding the Exempt Organization Public Disclosure Requirements for more information.As the KDE league is not a 501(c) organization, it is one of the many other types of not-for-profit organizations recognized by the state of Delaware. See the The Nonprofit FAQ for more information about what type of not-for-profit organizations exist.
The bottom line is that the known facts are thus: the PS1 was profitable at its $299 US introductory price; there was never a loss on sales of the N64; it is arguable over whether the PS2 was ever sold at a significant loss; the Sega Saturn was the first actively marketed console to be sold at a loss, the Sega Dreamcast followed suit.
I find it doubtful that NES and SuperNES were ever sold at a loss. I'm willing to change my mind if you can find a good basis for the claim that they were.
Saying "But it's a Mac ..." is simply the logical fallacy of special pleading. If you don't understand why network admins wouldn't want a personal machine on the network, you don't understand security.
This is a key distinction because AFAIK in terms of federal laws (and most states because the states tend to follow the feds on this) it is only those nonprofit organizations that are tax exempt corporations that must disclose certain financial statements such as their corporate income tax return.
To make things clearer, some nonprofit organizations are tax exempt (most Churches, most charitable organizations, some schools, etc.). Other nonprofit orgnizations are not usually tax exempt (political action committees, co-ops, neighborhood associations, etc.).
Being a nonprofit (for the most part) simply means that profits are not payed out to shareholders. This does not mean that the corporation cannot make a profit. Nor does this mean that the corporation is tax exempt. Tax exempt status usually means not only that the corporation doesn't have to pay taxes on its income, but that donations to the corporation are tax deductable. Because of the donation item, tax exempt organizations are generally held to a higher state of transparency than other nonprofits.
If the KDE League is not a tax exempt corporation (and not publically held), I do not believe that there is any law that states they must publically detail any financial statements. I could be wrong on that.
You can check out the Delaware Revised Code if you like. As the KDE League is incorporated in Delaware, this is the law that governs their incorporation.
The difference between Nintendo and Sony on one hand and Microsoft on the other is that Microsoft is willing to take a sizable loss on the cost of goods sold. Nintendo and Sony take only a nominal loss on production costs (assuming each unit manufactured is sold). It is debatable how much (if any) Sony lost per unit on the PS2 if one does not include R&D.
If you look at the history of gaming consoles, for the most part only consoles that were about to tank ended up being sold at a loss. A good example is Sega. Who sold several consoles at a loss before bailing out of the hardware business.