"Stupid. Most hardware runs well under Linux, and actually require less horse power in the CPU to run."
Not stupid, cost-effective. It would cost more in man-hours to install Linux on each and every existing machine than to contract out new machines with Linux pre-loaded onto them.
"For 90% of the needed task, Linux does it in ways exceedingly similar to Windows."
Similar, I'll give you that. But the problem is that it's still different enough to worry people. Similar or not, it's the slight differences of "where things are" and "what they do" is enough to make people nervous (read: less productive).
"But come on... you gonna being slowly eat up by the worm or to accept the pain once and get rid of it?"
This is the government we're talking about.:) People find enough excuses not to work around here without the huge distraction a new OS would cause. MS influence or not, the unwillingness of people to change an established practice outweighs all external factors.
"Do you purchase ANYTHING that you've seen on a TV ad?"
Did I read that correctly? This has to be my favorite part of the whole email. With reasoning like that, it's amazing he can hold ANY job, let alone represent a company as its webmaster.
Linux web servers running Apache are actually becoming quite popular in the government, since in many cases, IIS doesn't pass the security litmus.
However, as far as converting the workstations over to Linux, it's not even being close to economically feasable. What you save on the licenses would quickly be surpassed by the cost of A) disposal of the old workstations and making sure they are wiped clean of all information (there's been alot of problems with this lately), B) training of some very brain-dead users who believe that a computer without Windows is not a computer, and C) everything related with dismantling an ENORMOUS existing infrastructure and getting all of the new systems to work seamlessly (which equals alot of time and $$$).
If anything it sounds like the work of an Alzheimer's-ridden Charleton Heston, but personally I'm a fan of the guy so I'm not going to attack the increasingly helpless (guns or no guns) man.:)
Hopefully the moderators will find the appropriate-ness of this classic (propz to the original author):
The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth
It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)
Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors.. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt.45 and a.38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.
Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!
Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
It's not called "Evercrack" because it's cute, man.
I myself am a relatively new EQ player. At first I balked at paying $12/month for a game I had already purchased, but after I looked at it and put it all in perspective, $12 for a month's worth of entertainment isn't that bad, considering you're going to pay more than that for 2 trips to the movie theatre.
And I know you gotta buy the game (got the whole kit-n-b kaboodle, game and 3 expansions, for $60) but that's just a little overhead.
Now I haven't always been the safest person when working on my computer, but is poking around inside your machine when it's still turned on a good idea? Everything I've heard is that yer just playing with fire... er electricity when ya screw with a box when it's still turned on.
I wouldn't want people fucking things up in their boxes because their drive manufacture told them it's ok to mess with it while it's turned on.
They can make $200 off of those 150 tracks by putting them on 10 CDs and selling them separately for $20 apiece. Why would they settle for $20 for the entire 150 tracks?
Unless, of course, you're willing to pay $200 for a single CD with, as you said, only 10 or 15 good tracks...
I really don't see what they'd have to gain by this. First of all, the recording industry by default sees mp3s as a Bad Thing (TM). They wouldn't want to conveniently sell their product in a format that makes it easier to copy/share/pirate/etc. Secondly, why would they sell 150 tracks on a single CD for $20 when they can get away with selling only 15 tracks on a single CD for $20?
From our point of view it would be really nice, for sure. Bur from a business perspective, the industry would be shooting itself in the foot.
I recently took a training course that informed me, much to my surprise, that Internet Explorer adheres to the W3C standards much more closely than the Netscape/Mozilla browsers.
Frankly I wish these standards were enforced, because it's a real pain in the ass to have to develop separate code so that my site works with both browser types. Call me lazy but it's alot of duplicated effort that is unnecessary and time-consuming.
Re:Media Addiction is really just Entertainment
on
Borrowing ROMs
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· Score: 1
"We're not pissed off because the RIAA/MPAA is selling these items to us. We WANT these things. They provide ENTERTAINMENT. (Just like sports provide entertainment.)"
This is exactly what I'm talking about. Our culture has become obsessed with passive entertainment.
I'm probably being a little uncharacteristically idealist here, but it wouldn't hurt anyone to seek more active entertainment, which can include many activities mentioned in the replies of my original post.
I think fighting the entertainment industry head-on, as we seem to be doing, is an exercise in futility as long as they can buy favorable legislation. The only way we're going to break their influence is to shrink the demand of their product, and therefore cut their profits.
But again, I'm probably being too idealistic.
Wanna hurt the MPAA/RIAA'? End Media Addiction
on
Borrowing ROMs
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· Score: 5, Insightful
The problem can be traced bck to the most basic economic principle: supply and demand. The fact that there are so many people out there who are trying to create the latest flavor of file-sharing only proves that there is still a huge demand for media. Naturally, the industries do whatever they can to make a buck off of that demand, and prevent anyone from taking that market-share away from them.
Which brings me to the main point of this post. The various media industries view us not as citizens, but consumers. We all know this, and many of us resent that fact. The solution? Stop being a consumer!
I am not a psychologist, by any stretch, but I would suggest that some people are downright addicted to media. For some, they need to have music playing all the time. Others seek only to collect hunderds of gigabytes of media they may or may not have any intention of viewing/listening to. These are the people the xxAA's want to sink their hooks into, because there is the most money to be made from them.
So how about this. Cast off your media addiction and go do stuff that shows the various entertainment industries that they and their product are not needed/wanted. Find other hobbies/activities that don't support the monopolistic organizations. Maybe pushing the idea too far here, but maybe take up a sport!
We will always be considered consumers first as long as we behave like consumers. If we want to show the entertainment industries that we don't like what they're doing, remove yourself from their market pool.
...what beef does Batman have with Superman? They protect two completely different cities, and the only thing I can see creating a conflict here is a very un-superhero-like grab for power. I don't see how this idea would work even at it's most basic levels...
It certainly wouldn't work for long, as it would only be a matter of minutes before someone downloaded the source, modified it to remove the ad delivery mechanism, and re-distribute the ad-free version.
Not only does OSS make this possible, it encourages it.
Well if Katz didn't realize that news organizations are more likely to target one demographic over another until now, he really needs to get out more.
I'm just not sure what conclusion he was trying to draw with the difference in coverage of these kidnappings. He's implying that the mass media is somehow evil because they are not giving equal coverage to these cases, and I don't see where the wrongdoing is. It's not like Smart has been found as a result of this coverage, and Patterson is still missing because she is being ignored...
Neither of these missing children have been found yet, so I don't see what impact the that media coverage has had on the ultimate goal: finding these kids.
Now if Elizabeth Smart had been found after a single day of media-blitz coverage, you might have a case. But I'm afraid the facts once again disprove your argument.
The fact that Sony and Microsoft secured their systems differently doesn't make the intended purpose, to prevent burned cd's from working on their machines, any different.
Rather, I submit that Microsoft saw how easy it was to circumvent the PS1 and PS2, and just went the extra mile to ensure that pirated games would not work on the Xbox.
Knowing that, I wouldn't be surprised to see some form of digital signature on the PS3, given that nobody hacks the Xbox between now and then.
The same could be said about Sony. Those PS1 and PS2 mod chips are every bit as much of a circumvention as modifying the X-Box would be. The difference here is that Sony != Microsoft, and therefore doesn't get as much bad press here.
If our current website project were a simple HTML/JSP-page deal, 508 wouldn't be an issue. In fact I wish that's what it was, however we're using Oracle Portal which has a TON of native "features" which have caused alot of issues with 508 compliance.
Re:Probably worth a read.... Statements are true.
on
Built For Use
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· Score: 1
I agree with you that Flash and Java often make a website unnecessarily clunky, but I'm not sure what your beef with CSS is.
If anything, it makes the files smaller/site faster by keeping all the settings in one.CSS file. I know it makes it easier for me, as a psuedo-developer, to make changes that impact the entire site.
What About Gov't Websites?
on
Built For Use
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· Score: 2
Does this book cover, in any detail at all, the restrictions that policies (such as Section 508, security policies, etc.) put on the development of a user-friendly government website? I'm working on such a website and have found that user-friendly and compliant are often mutually exclusive.
Slashdot Mirror
Not stupid, cost-effective. It would cost more in man-hours to install Linux on each and every existing machine than to contract out new machines with Linux pre-loaded onto them.
"For 90% of the needed task, Linux does it in ways exceedingly similar to Windows."
Similar, I'll give you that. But the problem is that it's still different enough to worry people. Similar or not, it's the slight differences of "where things are" and "what they do" is enough to make people nervous (read: less productive).
"But come on... you gonna being slowly eat up by the worm or to accept the pain once and get rid of it?"
This is the government we're talking about. :) People find enough excuses not to work around here without the huge distraction a new OS would cause. MS influence or not, the unwillingness of people to change an established practice outweighs all external factors.
on a TV ad?"
Did I read that correctly? This has to be my favorite part of the whole email. With reasoning like that, it's amazing he can hold ANY job, let alone represent a company as its webmaster.
However, as far as converting the workstations over to Linux, it's not even being close to economically feasable. What you save on the licenses would quickly be surpassed by the cost of A) disposal of the old workstations and making sure they are wiped clean of all information (there's been alot of problems with this lately), B) training of some very brain-dead users who believe that a computer without Windows is not a computer, and C) everything related with dismantling an ENORMOUS existing infrastructure and getting all of the new systems to work seamlessly (which equals alot of time and $$$).
If anything it sounds like the work of an Alzheimer's-ridden Charleton Heston, but personally I'm a fan of the guy so I'm not going to attack the increasingly helpless (guns or no guns) man. :)
The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth
It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)
Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.
Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!
Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
An interesting question, since any lawyer worth their salt has already sold their immortal soul to the Dark One (or Bill Gates, take your pick).
I love to root for the good guy, but in this case I think the Almighty is a little outmatched on this one.
I myself am a relatively new EQ player. At first I balked at paying $12/month for a game I had already purchased, but after I looked at it and put it all in perspective, $12 for a month's worth of entertainment isn't that bad, considering you're going to pay more than that for 2 trips to the movie theatre.
And I know you gotta buy the game (got the whole kit-n-b kaboodle, game and 3 expansions, for $60) but that's just a little overhead.
I wouldn't want people fucking things up in their boxes because their drive manufacture told them it's ok to mess with it while it's turned on.
I stand corrected. No wonder I almost had to take 3 remedial math classes in college!
x = DIVX - DIV
They can make $200 off of those 150 tracks by putting them on 10 CDs and selling them separately for $20 apiece. Why would they settle for $20 for the entire 150 tracks?
Unless, of course, you're willing to pay $200 for a single CD with, as you said, only 10 or 15 good tracks...
From our point of view it would be really nice, for sure. Bur from a business perspective, the industry would be shooting itself in the foot.
Frankly I wish these standards were enforced, because it's a real pain in the ass to have to develop separate code so that my site works with both browser types. Call me lazy but it's alot of duplicated effort that is unnecessary and time-consuming.
This is exactly what I'm talking about. Our culture has become obsessed with passive entertainment.
I'm probably being a little uncharacteristically idealist here, but it wouldn't hurt anyone to seek more active entertainment, which can include many activities mentioned in the replies of my original post.
I think fighting the entertainment industry head-on, as we seem to be doing, is an exercise in futility as long as they can buy favorable legislation. The only way we're going to break their influence is to shrink the demand of their product, and therefore cut their profits.
But again, I'm probably being too idealistic.
Which brings me to the main point of this post. The various media industries view us not as citizens, but consumers. We all know this, and many of us resent that fact. The solution? Stop being a consumer!
I am not a psychologist, by any stretch, but I would suggest that some people are downright addicted to media. For some, they need to have music playing all the time. Others seek only to collect hunderds of gigabytes of media they may or may not have any intention of viewing/listening to. These are the people the xxAA's want to sink their hooks into, because there is the most money to be made from them.
So how about this. Cast off your media addiction and go do stuff that shows the various entertainment industries that they and their product are not needed/wanted. Find other hobbies/activities that don't support the monopolistic organizations. Maybe pushing the idea too far here, but maybe take up a sport!
We will always be considered consumers first as long as we behave like consumers. If we want to show the entertainment industries that we don't like what they're doing, remove yourself from their market pool.
...what beef does Batman have with Superman? They protect two completely different cities, and the only thing I can see creating a conflict here is a very un-superhero-like grab for power. I don't see how this idea would work even at it's most basic levels...
It certainly wouldn't work for long, as it would only be a matter of minutes before someone downloaded the source, modified it to remove the ad delivery mechanism, and re-distribute the ad-free version.
Not only does OSS make this possible, it encourages it.
Well if Katz didn't realize that news organizations are more likely to target one demographic over another until now, he really needs to get out more.
I'm just not sure what conclusion he was trying to draw with the difference in coverage of these kidnappings. He's implying that the mass media is somehow evil because they are not giving equal coverage to these cases, and I don't see where the wrongdoing is. It's not like Smart has been found as a result of this coverage, and Patterson is still missing because she is being ignored...
Neither of these missing children have been found yet, so I don't see what impact the that media coverage has had on the ultimate goal: finding these kids.
Now if Elizabeth Smart had been found after a single day of media-blitz coverage, you might have a case. But I'm afraid the facts once again disprove your argument.
The fact that Sony and Microsoft secured their systems differently doesn't make the intended purpose, to prevent burned cd's from working on their machines, any different.
Rather, I submit that Microsoft saw how easy it was to circumvent the PS1 and PS2, and just went the extra mile to ensure that pirated games would not work on the Xbox.
Knowing that, I wouldn't be surprised to see some form of digital signature on the PS3, given that nobody hacks the Xbox between now and then.
The same could be said about Sony. Those PS1 and PS2 mod chips are every bit as much of a circumvention as modifying the X-Box would be. The difference here is that Sony != Microsoft, and therefore doesn't get as much bad press here.
If our current website project were a simple HTML/JSP-page deal, 508 wouldn't be an issue. In fact I wish that's what it was, however we're using Oracle Portal which has a TON of native "features" which have caused alot of issues with 508 compliance.
If anything, it makes the files smaller/site faster by keeping all the settings in one .CSS file. I know it makes it easier for me, as a psuedo-developer, to make changes that impact the entire site.
Does this book cover, in any detail at all, the restrictions that policies (such as Section 508, security policies, etc.) put on the development of a user-friendly government website? I'm working on such a website and have found that user-friendly and compliant are often mutually exclusive.
That doesn't help if the offending re-direct is in the page, as opposed to the URL. I've run across plenty of those kinds of goatse landmines..