Am I the only one who's had little or no issues in the last four years or so with the windows platform. And by issues I mean 'out of memory' or random 'blue screens'..etc..etc.
Probably. But you probably don't run flaky, poorly supported and/or cheaply-made hardware like many people do, or like many companies put in their sub-$1000 PCs. GIGO, but in MSland there's much more G going I, and many (if not most) end-users are going to care except when things break. You probably also run antivirus and antiadware software as a matter of course, which most Mac and Unix people find disgustingly inefficient and sad. The Unix way isn't to write a prophylactic wrapper around politically-unfixable security bugs, it's to fix the goddamn bugs and deprecate the buggy methodology with a "safe" substitute.
Maybe a lot of this is repressed anger from the mid to late 90s when running windows networks took a _lot_ of work (frickin WINS and NetBEUI).
Up until quite recently, when installing 3rd-party hardware, vendors would overwrite stuff in Windows\System. THEY WOULD OVERWRITE SYSTEM DLLS!! Even just software apps would overwrite system DLLs.
For emphasis: 3RD PARTY VENDORS WOULD OVERWRITE SYSTEM DLLS FOR NON-SYSTEM-RELATED SOFTWARE!!!! Instability? You're _soaking_ in it!
If there's anything that should earn a permanent ban on the creation and sale of software, that should be first on the list. Everyone else uses a "/usr/local/lib" or "compat" system for this, and MS suffers from it to this day because of its cruft support requirements, coming up with a Goldbergian "system recovery" system to try and compensate.
Leaving aside the whole insecurity thing (macro viruses, buffer overflows in gfx renderers in the kernel, etc..), getting stuff installed and working properly is a real bear compared to Mac OS X. Sure, the mac-compatible selection is a smaller subset, but stuff just works. Plug in a bluetooth dongle, you have bluetooth. Plug in your iPod, and it works. In the immortal words of Doug Henning: It's _MAGIC_!
Also, Windows is ugly. Even compared to KDE with Baghira: at least in KDE you have much more configurability of the kicker panel (start bar). Compared to any version of OS X, Windows is a dolled-up pig.
And server side I've had nothing but 'good luck' i suppose, for the past six years. Since 1999 or 98 i've been runing NT4 or win2k or 2k3 and the shit just runs.
Still, it takes a lot of work and involves a lot of rebooting to keep up to date with Microsoft's flurry of security patches. Also, the hardware requirements of MS Exchange are criminal, speaking to horrible software quality.
... as long as the ILECs aren't allowed to rape VoIP providers in E911 connection charges.
I had reason to call 911 about a year ago on my Vonage line, I had already configured it for 911 as soon as that service was available in my area, and the PSAP they transferred to didn't have my given address and number in their system automatically. That's complete horseshit, Vonage knows my address not only because I spec'd it in the 911 setup but because they successfully send me bills.
They need to be able to get to the point where I call 911, connect somewhere, and they have my configured address and # and can connect me to my local precinct, fire house, what not without me knowing where they are. My local PD has a hotline from 911, and dialing the published # can lead to lots of ringing, signifying nothing. If you don't have access to the hotlines, as an 'emergency' provider, you're worthless.
And yeah, I want my VoIP to be a complete solo-line replacement for Verizon. They just have to do whatever needs to be done to get there, if it involves suing the ILECs for access, hiring lobbyists, selling small childrens' hearts to Satanists, whatever.
.. Given what passed for dialogue in the last two prequels (and AOTC actually made it into porno flick bad dialogue) I can't imagine not cringing when I go see this. If I'm gonna see Natalie Portman deliver this leaden junk, there had better be skin-tight tops and hot grits.
But I'll go see this. But I won't go until the matinee discount.
And I'm sure at least a star got added because Ebert agrees with Lucas' politics. He's a political reviewer, so that's some bias to filter out, but at least he documents his bias within the review, and his zero-star reviews are brilliant (especially the review of his Fellow Traveler Rob Reiner's 'North').
... I mean c'mon. I would have a better device if I could slap a 4GB drive on my P800.
I think I'll hold out for the 3G P910 successor, perhaps it'll have a HDD, a phat TFT or OLED, and AD2P wireless stereo headphones.. I'd love to have a linux phone but FWIS all those Motorola phones have locked their Linux parts and only allow J2ME...
After R'ing TFA's first page, I believe that Dvorak's signal-to-noise ratio is either negative or imaginary (like sqrt(-1)) at this point.. Hack city...
But still, I'd hold out for a Tiger QE-capable mini.. Something with the 9600/9700 chipset is appropriate for that price point in this day and age..
Then again, I just got this phat new Athlon rig and I'll copy my dead old laptop's drive onto my gentoo with a 2.5" firewire enclosure.. Too bad Apple really sucked eggs on that PowerMac update!
... Just pxeboot everything and run diskless. Less electricity and more security. Upgrading becomes a matter of upgrading the server's boot and root shares, then rebooting the clients.
In fact, given a given upgrade and software budget, it may be cheaper and easier on you to write off the 'legacy' PCs and build a pxebooting set of diskless thin clients off Gentoo. You could even use them as a compile farm so when it comes to upgrading/patching your boot servers, all the little clients are actually _helping_ out!
... I mean, what, buy RHAT for its business relationships? The code is _poison_ to Microsoft since it can't be integrated with anything they have without the threat (legit or not) of having legacy stuff 'tainted' by GPL.
Unless MS is planning something much bigger than I think they have the imagination for, the idea of RHMS is facially stupid.
Besides, IMHO, not a big fan of RHAT ever since the RH9 debacle. SuSE is looking better in terms of corporate desktop support, and I'd prefer to build new businesses off Gentoo anyways.
This dilemma occurs with many systems based on an ideology of freedom and opposition to censorship. The US constitution's first amendment guarantees the right of NAMBLA to express their views on a public webpage.
Lead Agent: [to NAMBLA Leader] We've been after you for a long time, buddy! Do you know your rights?
NAMBLA Leader: Rights? Does anybody know their rights? You see, I've learned something today. [Stan and Kyle look at each other] Our forefathers came to this country because they believed in an idea. An idea called "freedom." They wanted to live in a place where a group couldn't be prosecuted for their beliefs. Where a person can live the way he chooses to live. [Stan, Kyle, and Cartman look at each other] You see us as being perverted because we're different from you. People are afraid of us, because they don't understand. And sometimes it's easier to persecute than to understand. [Stan and Kyle look at each other, then at the NAMBLA leader]
Kyle: Dude. You have sex with children.
NAMBLA Leader: We are human. Most of us didn't even choose to be attracted to young boys. We were born that way. We can't help the way we are, and if you all can't understand that, well, then, I guess you'll just have to put us away. [shots of the agents, then the Brando look-alikes, then Stan and Kyle, who look at each other, then at the NAMBLA leader]
Kyle: [slowly, for emphasis] Dude. You have sex with children.
Stan: Yeah. You know, we believe in equality for everybody, and tolerance, and all that gay stuff, but dude, fuck you.
Finding a mobo without integrated video is cake, but lots of these integrated components are part of the newer chipsets themselves. So, unless you're doing pro audio, a chipset's Dolby Digital S/PDIF out should do fine. And unless you have one of those slick aggregating 4 port ethernet boards, the onboard network (which is likely gigabit copper) should do fine. Ditto USB2, and even firewire (mine's got FW800 and SATAII). Just buy a board with stuff that supports whatever OS(es) you wanna run on them.
I just built a system based on the GV-3D1 bundle set (screw Apple's lousy Powermac refresh!) that includes a 2x6600GT one-board SLI. All I needed was RAM and media, and a Viewsonic VP201. And when NVidia releases support for SLI in Linux, I have a 20G part waiting for a gentoo build.
Unless it's pro-spec, put your old stuff on eBay or donate it to someplace that can give you a tax writeoff.
The IBM employees? They get what they deserved. Every 13,000 of them. Welcome to capitalism - enjoy your stay!
Meh, they're only booting inefficient Europeans, and doing buyouts and attriting first at that. Besides, 13,000 is, what, ~5% of the total workforce?
And history has shown 'full employment' by government fiat to be at best a joke, at worst a catastrophe. Equality of outcomes means everyone is poor. BTW, last time I was in the Louvre 'round turkey day 2003, there was a notice in the museum map that stated that some exhibits may be off-limits because of staffing shortages. IN A COUNTRY WITH 8%+ UNEMPLOYMENT. Can I get a WTF?!?!
All I know is, I got the employee discount on IBM stock at a split-adjusted $22/shr, sold it @ $105/shr. Yay me.
The only surprise is sales tax, and that's just the law (pita), not their fault. And no, I don't work for them, but a frequent, and satisfied, buyer.
No worries here, 'cuz I'm not in the same state..... And I gotta wonder why more internet retail businesses don't get the heck outta high-tax states like CA, NJ, NY? If you do business in a state with no sales tax (like Alaska or New Hampshire, which don't have income taxes either, so therefore they RAWWWK) do you even need to worry about keeping track of that stuff?
You could even hire admins, developers, flash people, whatnot in different states, fly them in once a quarter and videoconference the rest of the time, and do everything but the fulfillment and handson admin remotely...
I've just now decided on a new rig, and Newegg's wishlist feature is pretty well handled IMHO. It took the better part of a week to tweak my final configuration and get up the nerve to drop about 2 large on it, but in the end I did and I went with NE for everything..
Not an employee or shill (or astroturpher per the recent PJG link), just a satisfied previous customer.
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Am I the only one who's had little or no issues in the last four years or so with the windows platform. And by issues I mean 'out of memory' or random 'blue screens' ..etc ..etc.
Probably. But you probably don't run flaky, poorly supported and/or cheaply-made hardware like many people do, or like many companies put in their sub-$1000 PCs. GIGO, but in MSland there's much more G going I, and many (if not most) end-users are going to care except when things break. You probably also run antivirus and antiadware software as a matter of course, which most Mac and Unix people find disgustingly inefficient and sad. The Unix way isn't to write a prophylactic wrapper around politically-unfixable security bugs, it's to fix the goddamn bugs and deprecate the buggy methodology with a "safe" substitute.
Maybe a lot of this is repressed anger from the mid to late 90s when running windows networks took a _lot_ of work (frickin WINS and NetBEUI).
Up until quite recently, when installing 3rd-party hardware, vendors would overwrite stuff in Windows\System. THEY WOULD OVERWRITE SYSTEM DLLS!! Even just software apps would overwrite system DLLs.
For emphasis: 3RD PARTY VENDORS WOULD OVERWRITE SYSTEM DLLS FOR NON-SYSTEM-RELATED SOFTWARE!!!! Instability? You're _soaking_ in it!
If there's anything that should earn a permanent ban on the creation and sale of software, that should be first on the list. Everyone else uses a "/usr/local/lib" or "compat" system for this, and MS suffers from it to this day because of its cruft support requirements, coming up with a Goldbergian "system recovery" system to try and compensate.
Leaving aside the whole insecurity thing (macro viruses, buffer overflows in gfx renderers in the kernel, etc..), getting stuff installed and working properly is a real bear compared to Mac OS X. Sure, the mac-compatible selection is a smaller subset, but stuff just works. Plug in a bluetooth dongle, you have bluetooth. Plug in your iPod, and it works. In the immortal words of Doug Henning: It's _MAGIC_!
Also, Windows is ugly. Even compared to KDE with Baghira: at least in KDE you have much more configurability of the kicker panel (start bar). Compared to any version of OS X, Windows is a dolled-up pig.
And server side I've had nothing but 'good luck' i suppose, for the past six years. Since 1999 or 98 i've been runing NT4 or win2k or 2k3 and the shit just runs.
Still, it takes a lot of work and involves a lot of rebooting to keep up to date with Microsoft's flurry of security patches. Also, the hardware requirements of MS Exchange are criminal, speaking to horrible software quality.
... that runs on water, man!! It's got a fiberglass aircooled engine and it runs on WATER! /Guilty Pleasure
ps: Maryann. Waay hotter.
Naah, something here reeks of retardation or criminality, or p(ossib|robab)ly both...
The way I see it, if America can provide a cushy living for everyone, but makes NO ONE rich, that is fine with ME.
Well tough shit. I wanna be rich, and I want the ability to be rich. If you don't like it, vote. If you lose the vote, stop whining.
... as long as the ILECs aren't allowed to rape VoIP providers in E911 connection charges.
I had reason to call 911 about a year ago on my Vonage line, I had already configured it for 911 as soon as that service was available in my area, and the PSAP they transferred to didn't have my given address and number in their system automatically. That's complete horseshit, Vonage knows my address not only because I spec'd it in the 911 setup but because they successfully send me bills.
They need to be able to get to the point where I call 911, connect somewhere, and they have my configured address and # and can connect me to my local precinct, fire house, what not without me knowing where they are. My local PD has a hotline from 911, and dialing the published # can lead to lots of ringing, signifying nothing. If you don't have access to the hotlines, as an 'emergency' provider, you're worthless.
And yeah, I want my VoIP to be a complete solo-line replacement for Verizon. They just have to do whatever needs to be done to get there, if it involves suing the ILECs for access, hiring lobbyists, selling small childrens' hearts to Satanists, whatever.
Linux is used by the NSA, CIA, FBI, DOD.
Linux is used by the commies.
FIGHT!
.. Given what passed for dialogue in the last two prequels (and AOTC actually made it into porno flick bad dialogue) I can't imagine not cringing when I go see this. If I'm gonna see Natalie Portman deliver this leaden junk, there had better be skin-tight tops and hot grits.
But I'll go see this. But I won't go until the matinee discount.
And I'm sure at least a star got added because Ebert agrees with Lucas' politics. He's a political reviewer, so that's some bias to filter out, but at least he documents his bias within the review, and his zero-star reviews are brilliant (especially the review of his Fellow Traveler Rob Reiner's 'North').
Are they dropping Zap2it support? Are they dropping manual recording support?
Nope, it's a choice, and choice is always good.
With Tivo, you only get 1 choice: buy their service or don't have a functioning Tivo.
... I mean c'mon. I would have a better device if I could slap a 4GB drive on my P800.
I think I'll hold out for the 3G P910 successor, perhaps it'll have a HDD, a phat TFT or OLED, and AD2P wireless stereo headphones.. I'd love to have a linux phone but FWIS all those Motorola phones have locked their Linux parts and only allow J2ME...
After R'ing TFA's first page, I believe that Dvorak's signal-to-noise ratio is either negative or imaginary (like sqrt(-1)) at this point.. Hack city...
But still, I'd hold out for a Tiger QE-capable mini.. Something with the 9600/9700 chipset is appropriate for that price point in this day and age..
Then again, I just got this phat new Athlon rig and I'll copy my dead old laptop's drive onto my gentoo with a 2.5" firewire enclosure.. Too bad Apple really sucked eggs on that PowerMac update!
I mean, really, what's the deal here? Most apps can be easily kept up to date by an easy-peasy daily xcopy command.
Registry.
... Just pxeboot everything and run diskless. Less electricity and more security. Upgrading becomes a matter of upgrading the server's boot and root shares, then rebooting the clients.
In fact, given a given upgrade and software budget, it may be cheaper and easier on you to write off the 'legacy' PCs and build a pxebooting set of diskless thin clients off Gentoo. You could even use them as a compile farm so when it comes to upgrading/patching your boot servers, all the little clients are actually _helping_ out!
... I mean, what, buy RHAT for its business relationships? The code is _poison_ to Microsoft since it can't be integrated with anything they have without the threat (legit or not) of having legacy stuff 'tainted' by GPL.
Unless MS is planning something much bigger than I think they have the imagination for, the idea of RHMS is facially stupid.
Besides, IMHO, not a big fan of RHAT ever since the RH9 debacle. SuSE is looking better in terms of corporate desktop support, and I'd prefer to build new businesses off Gentoo anyways.
ObSouthParkQuote:
I mean, could you power tanks, battlearmor or exoskeletons with something like this?
Jes' curious...
It will work out iff it has some form of EDGE or 3G, along with the required wifi and bluetooth. It should also handle PCS calls and AD2P.
;)
a 60gb iPod hdd and Inkwell wouldn't hurt either
This is significant if you live in say Honolulu where electricity is 14cents/KWh or on Kauai where it's close to 22cents/KWh.
:/
Last time I looked, that's about on-par with NYC (given fuel surcharges).. Too bad we don't get enough sun for solar
.... integrated stuff.
Finding a mobo without integrated video is cake, but lots of these integrated components are part of the newer chipsets themselves. So, unless you're doing pro audio, a chipset's Dolby Digital S/PDIF out should do fine. And unless you have one of those slick aggregating 4 port ethernet boards, the onboard network (which is likely gigabit copper) should do fine. Ditto USB2, and even firewire (mine's got FW800 and SATAII). Just buy a board with stuff that supports whatever OS(es) you wanna run on them.
I just built a system based on the GV-3D1 bundle set (screw Apple's lousy Powermac refresh!) that includes a 2x6600GT one-board SLI. All I needed was RAM and media, and a Viewsonic VP201. And when NVidia releases support for SLI in Linux, I have a 20G part waiting for a gentoo build.
Unless it's pro-spec, put your old stuff on eBay or donate it to someplace that can give you a tax writeoff.
Next!
The IBM employees? They get what they deserved. Every 13,000 of them. Welcome to capitalism - enjoy your stay!
Meh, they're only booting inefficient Europeans, and doing buyouts and attriting first at that. Besides, 13,000 is, what, ~5% of the total workforce?
And history has shown 'full employment' by government fiat to be at best a joke, at worst a catastrophe. Equality of outcomes means everyone is poor. BTW, last time I was in the Louvre 'round turkey day 2003, there was a notice in the museum map that stated that some exhibits may be off-limits because of staffing shortages. IN A COUNTRY WITH 8%+ UNEMPLOYMENT. Can I get a WTF?!?!
All I know is, I got the employee discount on IBM stock at a split-adjusted $22/shr, sold it @ $105/shr. Yay me.
Will they be helping people down the stairs?
The only surprise is sales tax, and that's just the law (pita), not their fault. And no, I don't work for them, but a frequent, and satisfied, buyer.
.. And I gotta wonder why more internet retail businesses don't get the heck outta high-tax states like CA, NJ, NY? If you do business in a state with no sales tax (like Alaska or New Hampshire, which don't have income taxes either, so therefore they RAWWWK) do you even need to worry about keeping track of that stuff?
No worries here, 'cuz I'm not in the same state...
You could even hire admins, developers, flash people, whatnot in different states, fly them in once a quarter and videoconference the rest of the time, and do everything but the fulfillment and handson admin remotely...
I've just now decided on a new rig, and Newegg's wishlist feature is pretty well handled IMHO. It took the better part of a week to tweak my final configuration and get up the nerve to drop about 2 large on it, but in the end I did and I went with NE for everything..
Not an employee or shill (or astroturpher per the recent PJG link), just a satisfied previous customer.