I don't mean to sound like a troll but I just don't see the point behind this. Perhaps this will make Linux more accessible to the average Windows user but I think it will only cement further the idea that Linux is simply another Windows application (I have been asked this before.) I think using projects such as Knoppix is a better way to introduce people to Linux. If this works, great but at this stage I just don't see the point.
IMO anything contained in Infoworld should be taken with at least one grain of salt. I get the magazine here at my office and most of the time it's a good four months behind the current trends. Sometimes it does have good articles but most of the time the so-called reviews read like advertisements and their information isn't always the most correct. The magazine itself is ad supported so that should explain some of the content.
Any royalties would be paid to surviving members of the respective bands or to the benificiary/executor of the band member's estate. For example, if you were to purchase a copy of Strange Days by The Doors the few pennies of the purchase price that make up the royalty payment would be distributed equally to Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and the benificiary of the Jim Morrison estate.
The purchase was made through their small business department but I could not justify the extra cost for their premium support. Prior to this purchase I had always gone through Gateway (who has their share of horror stories as well but I have not experienced any problems) and I was treated very well even though I was making a purchase for home. From what others had told me I could expect the same treatment from Dell but alas I was one of the exceptions to the rule. I recently purchased a new laptop from Gateway (450xl) and upon receiving it they called me to make sure I was satisfied with the product and the ordering process. As far as I know Gateway does little to nothing with Linux but I'll trade a bit of convenience (Linux compatibility) for quality service any day.
This is precisely the reason I will not purchase a Dell product again. My experiences with my laptop have been horrendous to say the least. Two years ago I purchased an Inspiron 8000 laptop which worked great for about nine months. I then began to have problems with the display and the pointer stick embedded in the keyboard. One of the little plastic switches that holds the CD-RW drive in place also broke. Upon calling Dell they instructed me to send the laptop to one of their service centers and they would repair it. I did as they suggested and sent my laptop in for service. Nearly two weeks later I had to call them to get a status update. I learned that apparently there was a $1600 bill now attached to my laptop because there was evidence of "spill and drop damage." I immediately asked for a supervisor, of course one was not available so I hung up and promptly called back. I spent nearly three hours on the phone being transferred from one department to another when I finally got a tech who would at least return the laptop to me without repair. At this point I was quite furious. Upon receipt of my unrepaired, improperly functioning laptop I contacted my state Attorney General's office as well as the Better Business Bureau. A week after filing my complaints there was a message on my answering machine from a representative claiming to be from Michael Dell's office regarding my complaint to the BBB. I do not remember the actual substance of the conversation but to paraphrase the Dell representative stated that I had no right to complain to the BBB because I had dropped my laptop and spilled a "brown liquid" on it. Needless to say I did not return the call and a week later (this has been going on for over a month) I receive a call at my office from another Dell representative who wanted to know why I hadn't returned the call. At this point I was so angry that I lashed out and explained all of my disgust with the entire support process. The representative was kind enough to bring up the history of my complaints and again mentioned the spill and drop damage. I explained that the laptop spends the majority of its time on a desk and had it fallen I would have known about it. After a brief pause she offered to replace my 8000 with a refurbished 8100 albeit with no warranty (my existing warranty was due to expire in another three weeks.) I accepted her offer and quickly received a refurbished 8100 that even had a few small upgrades. During this entire process I was simply wanting my 8000 repaired. The problems were minor and the only reason I had even bothered calling Dell was that I figured why should I make the repairs myself when I can use my warranty? The replacement laptop did make things better but they did not "make it right." I have had the refurbished 8100 for a little over a year now and I am in the process of replacing it (not with another Dell.) The display adapter backlight flickers on and off because the video card is not making good contact somewhere. The case has also developed a few small cracks due to it being overly flexible. After reading this latest episode in the ongoing comedy of Dell errors I can only assume that Dell has lost sight of its original goals and is now driven by greed. First we have to deal with the Microsoft "tax" and now click through licensing and we can't even read what we are agreeing to. It's a shame really beacuse Dell does make some nice hardware.
This is what I do. I bought a Nordictrack back in February and started using it 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Every couple weeks I would add 5 more minutes a day building up to 30 minutes. The hard part is getting started but once you make it a habit you'll get more out of it. I find it easiest to flip on the TV and exercise while watching one of my favorite shows. This tends to make the time go by a bit faster. Another plus about a Nordictrack is the fact that you can fold them up and store them out of the way. It makes it easy to stick in a corner and forget but it also makes a bit of a ritual out of it. For me it was worth the $800.
My thoughts exactly. In my opinion Lexmark printers are junk anyway. I've never had a printer jam so often or crash Windows with such ease. They make throwaway printers.
I remember signing a petition regarding just that and about a year later divx discs disappeared. This is nothing new here just a new spin on an old trick. The best way to fight this is with your pocketbook. If the greedy movie and music studios release crippled product and the public refuses to purchase it they will be out a heap of what they love most and react accordingly. There will always be people who try to cheat just like there will always be people that will follow the rules. I believe most folks fall into the honest category yet the honest folks are usually the first to suffer at the hands of these new, draconian technologies.
Why should I have to put up with software expiration dates because other people can't be responsible with their software? If you remove the user's need to think from the equation eventually the software will have to do everything. Look at Windows XP. It tries to hold your hand for everything. System administrators need to take responsibility for the systems they maintain, not the software developers.
I seriously doubt Microsoft is going to adopt any form of open source strategy. They have already proven they have no desire to "play by the rules" and they love their position as a monopoly. They do not HAVE to create an open source strategy. I think the big difference between Microsoft and Open Source is Microsoft is motivated by greed more than anything. Does the open source community really need someone like that?
I don't switch users very often but my linux desktop machines boot into run level 5 by default which brings up kdm(or gdm or prefdm.) This allows me to pick a user and also a desktop environment with ease. I used to use the startx gig when I first started using linux but on my desktop machines I figured I would cut out the middle man and get right down to business. Just change id:3:initdefault: to read id:5:initdefault and you're good to go.
I believe it depends on the site. For our site we went for fast loading and clean layout. We used text for most everything and optimized images to the max. We also followed W3 standards although I do believe a couple small errors have found their way into the page.
Something like this is already being done and I think it is called pairgain. Basically the phone company splits a single phone line into two or more, I'm not entirely sure how it works though. One thing to remember here is that T-1 is just a circuit. The telco runs different services over that circuit. For instance an ISP might order a T-1 with DS0 service for dial-in access and a second one with DS1 service for bandwidth. Once you start playing around with DS0 you can add PRI, ADTSe, AMI, B8ZS and a truckload of other services. Your point though makes sense and perhaps the telcos will make use of this new codec to create yet another service. I'm not sure if it's a good idea here in the U.S. though because the phone system in many areas is already held together with spit and duct tape.
I'm with you. Initially the "bait and switch" from Sun is going to upset a lot of people but if they put on a fair price tag and provide quality support for that price it will sell. I really like Star Office 5.2 and I have been using Open Office quite a lot lately and like what I see. I'm sure Open Office will appease to a great many people. I also think this supported pay version of Star Office 6.0 will grab the attention of many folks who may be hedging at jumping on the Linux bandwagon. We shall see.
Very good point. It seems there are large numbers of folks who are all for one private individual violating the privacy of another but if it is a government or a corporation they cry foul play. I am all for personal privacy but quite honestly if my government is monitoring me they must be incredibly bored. I would be interested to know what those who do not want any form of government surveillance are hiding.
I hate their business practices. How would you like it if you ordered a pizza and you were told you HAD to have anchovies on it whether you liked them or not and even if they didn't put the anchovies on you still had to pay for them? Whether or not MS should be allowed to integrate IE with Windows is up in the air as far as I'm concerned. Who cares as long as I can install another browser and use that one instead? Here's another one for those of you who think MS should be FORCED to open it's file formats and API: how would you like it if the government decided to take your intellectual property rights away? Don't give me the usual line of bullshit about information wants to be free and then turn around and crow about your personal privacy. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you can educate the consumer that there is a world beyond Microsoft then you can make their empire crumble. Here's another tidbit to chew on: suppose you get your way and Microsoft is forced to open their file formats and API, what happens if Pepsi gets pissed at Coke? What if Burger King wants to know what the special sauce on a Big Mac is? Think I'm nuts? Let Big Brother settle this mess and find out.
Do any Slashdot readers realize how expensive bandwidth really is? This is not uncommon and you will see broadband providers hiking their rates and reducing throughput. These companies are in business to make money, period. Running new fiber costs money. Maintaining a network costs money. Installations cost money. Bill collecting costs money. Everything costs money when you run a business. If a business expects to stick around they have to recoup their costs. They can't sell a T-1 for $79/month and expect to remain profitable let alone break even. You can oversell bandwidth to a point but that catches up over time. Granted a great deal of broadband users are using it for the convenience of no busy signals and an always on connection. It only takes a couple power downloaders(warez hounds) to monopolize service for the rest of the people who actually abide by the terms of service(read yours sometime.) Another thing to consider is providers will charge what the market will bear. This is true for any industry. The limits are here to stay. DSL users better get used to PPPoE and cable users might as well admit that getting 256k for $29.95/month isn't so bad.
At this rate there will be three independant open source platforms; Linux, *BSD and Debian. I see no real problem with this but I just don't understand the point. One other question; if Debian is the most pure Linux in an open source point of view why are they porting it to a more restrictive licensing scheme?
There will always be a select few who think that Linux should remain obscure to the average user which is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. That being said I think this is a good idea. It would make my life as a system administrator easier and it will also give lesser skilled users the ability to tweak their kernel if they choose. For me make menuconfig is very simple to use but why not have another choice? Isn't choice one of the strengths of Linux?
Slashdot Mirror
I don't mean to sound like a troll but I just don't see the point behind this. Perhaps this will make Linux more accessible to the average Windows user but I think it will only cement further the idea that Linux is simply another Windows application (I have been asked this before.) I think using projects such as Knoppix is a better way to introduce people to Linux. If this works, great but at this stage I just don't see the point.
IMO anything contained in Infoworld should be taken with at least one grain of salt. I get the magazine here at my office and most of the time it's a good four months behind the current trends. Sometimes it does have good articles but most of the time the so-called reviews read like advertisements and their information isn't always the most correct. The magazine itself is ad supported so that should explain some of the content.
Any royalties would be paid to surviving members of the respective bands or to the benificiary/executor of the band member's estate. For example, if you were to purchase a copy of Strange Days by The Doors the few pennies of the purchase price that make up the royalty payment would be distributed equally to Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and the benificiary of the Jim Morrison estate.
The purchase was made through their small business department but I could not justify the extra cost for their premium support. Prior to this purchase I had always gone through Gateway (who has their share of horror stories as well but I have not experienced any problems) and I was treated very well even though I was making a purchase for home. From what others had told me I could expect the same treatment from Dell but alas I was one of the exceptions to the rule. I recently purchased a new laptop from Gateway (450xl) and upon receiving it they called me to make sure I was satisfied with the product and the ordering process. As far as I know Gateway does little to nothing with Linux but I'll trade a bit of convenience (Linux compatibility) for quality service any day.
This is precisely the reason I will not purchase a Dell product again. My experiences with my laptop have been horrendous to say the least. Two years ago I purchased an Inspiron 8000 laptop which worked great for about nine months. I then began to have problems with the display and the pointer stick embedded in the keyboard. One of the little plastic switches that holds the CD-RW drive in place also broke. Upon calling Dell they instructed me to send the laptop to one of their service centers and they would repair it. I did as they suggested and sent my laptop in for service. Nearly two weeks later I had to call them to get a status update. I learned that apparently there was a $1600 bill now attached to my laptop because there was evidence of "spill and drop damage." I immediately asked for a supervisor, of course one was not available so I hung up and promptly called back. I spent nearly three hours on the phone being transferred from one department to another when I finally got a tech who would at least return the laptop to me without repair. At this point I was quite furious. Upon receipt of my unrepaired, improperly functioning laptop I contacted my state Attorney General's office as well as the Better Business Bureau. A week after filing my complaints there was a message on my answering machine from a representative claiming to be from Michael Dell's office regarding my complaint to the BBB. I do not remember the actual substance of the conversation but to paraphrase the Dell representative stated that I had no right to complain to the BBB because I had dropped my laptop and spilled a "brown liquid" on it. Needless to say I did not return the call and a week later (this has been going on for over a month) I receive a call at my office from another Dell representative who wanted to know why I hadn't returned the call. At this point I was so angry that I lashed out and explained all of my disgust with the entire support process. The representative was kind enough to bring up the history of my complaints and again mentioned the spill and drop damage. I explained that the laptop spends the majority of its time on a desk and had it fallen I would have known about it. After a brief pause she offered to replace my 8000 with a refurbished 8100 albeit with no warranty (my existing warranty was due to expire in another three weeks.) I accepted her offer and quickly received a refurbished 8100 that even had a few small upgrades. During this entire process I was simply wanting my 8000 repaired. The problems were minor and the only reason I had even bothered calling Dell was that I figured why should I make the repairs myself when I can use my warranty? The replacement laptop did make things better but they did not "make it right." I have had the refurbished 8100 for a little over a year now and I am in the process of replacing it (not with another Dell.) The display adapter backlight flickers on and off because the video card is not making good contact somewhere. The case has also developed a few small cracks due to it being overly flexible. After reading this latest episode in the ongoing comedy of Dell errors I can only assume that Dell has lost sight of its original goals and is now driven by greed. First we have to deal with the Microsoft "tax" and now click through licensing and we can't even read what we are agreeing to. It's a shame really beacuse Dell does make some nice hardware.
This is what I do. I bought a Nordictrack back in February and started using it 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Every couple weeks I would add 5 more minutes a day building up to 30 minutes. The hard part is getting started but once you make it a habit you'll get more out of it. I find it easiest to flip on the TV and exercise while watching one of my favorite shows. This tends to make the time go by a bit faster. Another plus about a Nordictrack is the fact that you can fold them up and store them out of the way. It makes it easy to stick in a corner and forget but it also makes a bit of a ritual out of it. For me it was worth the $800.
My thoughts exactly. In my opinion Lexmark printers are junk anyway. I've never had a printer jam so often or crash Windows with such ease. They make throwaway printers.
I remember signing a petition regarding just that and about a year later divx discs disappeared. This is nothing new here just a new spin on an old trick. The best way to fight this is with your pocketbook. If the greedy movie and music studios release crippled product and the public refuses to purchase it they will be out a heap of what they love most and react accordingly. There will always be people who try to cheat just like there will always be people that will follow the rules. I believe most folks fall into the honest category yet the honest folks are usually the first to suffer at the hands of these new, draconian technologies.
I'm not sure which article addresses this issue but secession from the Union is forbidden by the Constitution.
My thoughts exactly. The next thing you know the firemen will be coming to your door to burn your books.
If they use VxWorks in one part of the avionics then I would imagine they are using the same OS for all systems. AFAIK VxWorks is a realtime OS.
Why should I have to put up with software expiration dates because other people can't be responsible with their software? If you remove the user's need to think from the equation eventually the software will have to do everything. Look at Windows XP. It tries to hold your hand for everything. System administrators need to take responsibility for the systems they maintain, not the software developers.
That's mighty Microsoft of ya. Translation: I think it's a bad idea.
I seriously doubt Microsoft is going to adopt any form of open source strategy. They have already proven they have no desire to "play by the rules" and they love their position as a monopoly. They do not HAVE to create an open source strategy. I think the big difference between Microsoft and Open Source is Microsoft is motivated by greed more than anything. Does the open source community really need someone like that?
I don't switch users very often but my linux desktop machines boot into run level 5 by default which brings up kdm(or gdm or prefdm.) This allows me to pick a user and also a desktop environment with ease. I used to use the startx gig when I first started using linux but on my desktop machines I figured I would cut out the middle man and get right down to business. Just change id:3:initdefault: to read id:5:initdefault and you're good to go.
YES! We also need people in the insurance industry with the same specialty.
I believe it depends on the site. For our site we went for fast loading and clean layout. We used text for most everything and optimized images to the max. We also followed W3 standards although I do believe a couple small errors have found their way into the page.
Something like this is already being done and I think it is called pairgain. Basically the phone company splits a single phone line into two or more, I'm not entirely sure how it works though. One thing to remember here is that T-1 is just a circuit. The telco runs different services over that circuit. For instance an ISP might order a T-1 with DS0 service for dial-in access and a second one with DS1 service for bandwidth. Once you start playing around with DS0 you can add PRI, ADTSe, AMI, B8ZS and a truckload of other services. Your point though makes sense and perhaps the telcos will make use of this new codec to create yet another service. I'm not sure if it's a good idea here in the U.S. though because the phone system in many areas is already held together with spit and duct tape.
I'm with you. Initially the "bait and switch" from Sun is going to upset a lot of people but if they put on a fair price tag and provide quality support for that price it will sell. I really like Star Office 5.2 and I have been using Open Office quite a lot lately and like what I see. I'm sure Open Office will appease to a great many people. I also think this supported pay version of Star Office 6.0 will grab the attention of many folks who may be hedging at jumping on the Linux bandwagon. We shall see.
They call that shit kim chi (not sure of the spelling) in Korea and believe me it is SHIT. The smell alone can kill.
Very good point. It seems there are large numbers of folks who are all for one private individual violating the privacy of another but if it is a government or a corporation they cry foul play. I am all for personal privacy but quite honestly if my government is monitoring me they must be incredibly bored. I would be interested to know what those who do not want any form of government surveillance are hiding.
I hate their business practices. How would you like it if you ordered a pizza and you were told you HAD to have anchovies on it whether you liked them or not and even if they didn't put the anchovies on you still had to pay for them? Whether or not MS should be allowed to integrate IE with Windows is up in the air as far as I'm concerned. Who cares as long as I can install another browser and use that one instead? Here's another one for those of you who think MS should be FORCED to open it's file formats and API: how would you like it if the government decided to take your intellectual property rights away? Don't give me the usual line of bullshit about information wants to be free and then turn around and crow about your personal privacy. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you can educate the consumer that there is a world beyond Microsoft then you can make their empire crumble. Here's another tidbit to chew on: suppose you get your way and Microsoft is forced to open their file formats and API, what happens if Pepsi gets pissed at Coke? What if Burger King wants to know what the special sauce on a Big Mac is? Think I'm nuts? Let Big Brother settle this mess and find out.
Do any Slashdot readers realize how expensive bandwidth really is? This is not uncommon and you will see broadband providers hiking their rates and reducing throughput. These companies are in business to make money, period. Running new fiber costs money. Maintaining a network costs money. Installations cost money. Bill collecting costs money. Everything costs money when you run a business. If a business expects to stick around they have to recoup their costs. They can't sell a T-1 for $79/month and expect to remain profitable let alone break even. You can oversell bandwidth to a point but that catches up over time. Granted a great deal of broadband users are using it for the convenience of no busy signals and an always on connection. It only takes a couple power downloaders(warez hounds) to monopolize service for the rest of the people who actually abide by the terms of service(read yours sometime.) Another thing to consider is providers will charge what the market will bear. This is true for any industry. The limits are here to stay. DSL users better get used to PPPoE and cable users might as well admit that getting 256k for $29.95/month isn't so bad.
At this rate there will be three independant open source platforms; Linux, *BSD and Debian. I see no real problem with this but I just don't understand the point. One other question; if Debian is the most pure Linux in an open source point of view why are they porting it to a more restrictive licensing scheme?
There will always be a select few who think that Linux should remain obscure to the average user which is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. That being said I think this is a good idea. It would make my life as a system administrator easier and it will also give lesser skilled users the ability to tweak their kernel if they choose. For me make menuconfig is very simple to use but why not have another choice? Isn't choice one of the strengths of Linux?