It isn't FUD. There are parts of some controls and such in VB6 that are either undocumented or the documentation is just plain wrong.
I do not know what Microsoft's policy is on such matters, but I do know that without paying for support, you probably won't get it. Even then, they might point you to VB.net as opposed to addressing the problem.
I don't know about now, I created that sig back at some point when they were suggesting that home users would pay $199 for a home computer running Linux. They may have since changed that policy.
Actually Galadriel says something to the effect of (paraphrased) "These things you have seen will come true if you fail." Or something like that. In other words, I think that Jackson and company created that to look like general destruction and not what those "in the know" would recognize as a scene from the Scouring.
At this point I have resigned that the movies are a loose adaptation and not very true to what the books are themselves. This is to be expected since to really gain a feel for the books it would have taken a movie about the Hobbit and each movie being like 5 hours long.
That is the price of creating a distro that will sweep the enterprise market. There is no precedent to point to anything otherwise.
Never underestimate the desire for people to be lazy. Never underestimate the destructive forces that high entry-barriers have on markets. If the enterprise is riddled with Linux OS inconsistency, do not expect companies to develop for them.
You either have a standard or you don't. There is no middle ground. Without a standard to develop for, the state of Linux will remain unchanged in the desktop space.
True geeks will remain unaffected as their favorite homegrown distro will still have the same level of commercial applications it does now--virtually none compared to Windows.
Yeah, not quite sure what that word is supposed to be. Well, I can invent my own so I just did:)
I am sure I meant "assertions" as opposed to that.
Still, I most certainly do run my own company and my spelling is actually quite good. Lucky for many that being a good speller is not a prerequisite for either heading a company or success.
Neither does my being head of a company require your confidence or approval therein.
"Maybe so, but geeks (me included) will want choice."
From the story header: "at which Bruce Perens suggested that in order to get Linux to the enterprise desktop"
Thankfully, that excludes geeks like you (and me). Business has absolutely zero to do with such small quibbles on whether or not we geeks have choice and everything to do with what is a good business decision. There are points at which the two intersect but they are not either mutually inclusive or exclusive.
Human tendency especially among the informed/educated is to think to one's condition. "That isn't what I would want/do so it will fail." That line of thinking is usually not conducive to successful businesses.
"How will the business people know that UserLinux is the one true distro any more than they know that Debian is the one true distro now?"
Because if everyone in the Linux community unites behind one version for the defacto business standard, then they will know. Keep choice for those that want it. For those that don't give a flying four-door (insert your favorite four-letter) about whether it uses KDE or Gnome or OOo/Hancom/KOffice or for that matter what the hell it runs. They just want something that works.
In fact, while I am at it, this is what businesses want (I know because I run one):
Web Browser (again, flavor DOES NOT MATTER)
-Related browsing technology (Java, Flash, etc)
-No Pop ups
E-mail
-No Spam
-Easy attachments, etc.
-Free from virus concerns
Office Software
-Maximum compatibility desired (MS Office, Word Perfect, etc.)
Custom/Special Application compatibility
-This is the big showstopper
-Like it or not, there are businesses that will NOT consider Linux because simple apps like ACT 2000 will not work
-Wine/Codeweavers integration is a must
Central Authentication/Access Control
-It may already exist. I honestly don't know.
-Must work as simple or close to Windows Domains
-Must dictate what applications/security/settings are available to users that log in
-Must provide a central point to push new apps/bug fixes
-Should NOT require physical access to a machine EVER except for system problems
Windows Update-like mechanism (See Red Hat Up2Date)
-Again, this should be automatic to the end-user but updates pushed by admins (after proper testing, etc)
-Updates should be pushable by group (so that prioritization is possible)
Integrated Virus protection/Firewalling
-Just because a plethora of Viruses/Worms are not out there now doesn't mean they won't be later
-The Firewall settings should be set upon logging in (see the above)
Hardware Support
-No, we businesses don't care if we have the source for a scanner driver as long as it is free and works
-Again, do not confuse your condition to that of a business. Free first. OSS second.
ISV/Vendor Support
-Widely document the standard system
-Provide migration documents for migrating Windows apps to Linux
-Provide documents to train programmers that are Windows-centric to think on a Linux-level
There you go. My rendition of what it needs. I am sure there is more but those are the things I have encountered in Enterprise computing that without, Linux will NEVER unseat windows in a reasonable amount of time.
That's funny because I have had the most computer illiterate people sit down at my RH9 box with no windows open and figure out how to browse the web quite effectively with no instruction from me at all.
"Mozilla is not up to the task, sorry. It doesn't even render most webpages properly (including such common ones as YAHOO FINANCE)."
I don't think you can categorically say that without some level of proof. And "render . . . properly seems to be an either/or kind of statment. I argue that there are some things that are irrelevant such as font size so long as it does not effect the browsing experience. The only website I have found to date that doesn't work right at all with Mozilla is www.sprintpcs.com after you log in to manage your account.
I feel quite confident that the web pages that don't work right are those that seemed to ignore web standards completely.
"Openoffice is slow and bloated, as well as difficult to use."
Lets start out with the "slow and bloated" comment first. Define slow. Slow to start? Slow to print? That is completely ambiguous at best and not completely bound in truth as far as my experience goes. I give you that it is slow as Christmas to start. After startup completes I find it to be faster than Word.
Difficult to use? I don't find that to be true. Neither did a friend of mine that wouldn't know the difference between a word processor and a spreadsheet application. He used OpenOffice to write a research paper with no complaints. I even asked him if it worked ok.
"Linux is not ready for the home user."
I do not agree for 100% of home users. I think it is ready for a good portion of them already. With each passing release of kernels and distros that gap closes more.
"At least on Windows, when I uninstall a program, it uninstalls its libraries (for the most part)."
I do not see that uninstalling programs is any more thorough on Windows than Linux. They are both scripted and thus the uninstalls are only as good as the uninstall scripts. I have seen some that did nothing more than delete icons on Windows. About the only thing I can say about Windows uninstalling is that most (not all) software makers make the uninstall program easy to find.
And don't even get me started about dll's that refuse to allow themselves to be removed without doing some registry editing and/or booting to a command prompt only in Windows.
Bottom line is that I have had my RH9 box running since RH9 was release and it has not crashed once. At all. The only time it has been rebooted was due to power outages.
Besides, your conclusion is that home users are prepeared to deal with all of the nasty viruses/worms and all the problems they cause yet they cannot deal with Linux?
I guess technically it IS nanotech. I just meant human-made non-organic (or viral) nanotech.
Or maybe a twice a year innoculation against cancers.
Now if they could program these things to seek and destroy cells infected by various VD's and put an end to one of the biggest dangers of sex then the world would be a very interesting place indeed.
I have long suspected that the best cures for the worst diseases would be "surgical strike" techniques instead of the all or nothing approach of radiation and chemotherapy type solutions.
I wouldn't be surprised to see nanotech get involved in the action at some point.
Anyone looking to invest in companies for the long term should pay attention to companies that do this type of work.
Being that I operate a WISP I know the frustration felt when someone offers something for free that you are selling. It is extraordinarily difficult to convince people your service is better. They don't always understand the reason they should use us.
They don't comprehend that we guarantee them the bandwidth they pay for. They don't always understand that they are more secure on our network than than they might be on the local coffee shop's network. It doesn't always occur to them that we offer tech support when the coffee shop may or may not and at quite possibly an inferior quality.
If someone can invent a business model that makes running an ISP with free service to all customers profitable I will gladly get on that boat. Until then I am sad to say that we must charge for our service. Our backbone connection isn't free. Neither are our servers, routers, switches, firewalls, WAPs and personnel. Make all of that free then we can talk about what should and should not be free.
Actually you can't use a 24db antenna with a 100mw card. The maximum EIRP allowed under the FCC for point to point is 8 watts (39db) and 4 watts for point to multipoint. If you use 100mw (20db) input into a 24db gain antenna, your total EIRP will be 44db or 25 watts. Not legal at all. Also not healthy to stand in front of the antenna for more than a few minutes.
"Alternately, listen to word-of-mouth from others before you buy the CD in the first place."
Where do those word-of-mouth sources get their information from? Someone has to buy the CD and be plagued with crap. Besides, they play one track on the radio that might be really good and then the rest of the album sounds like the band was learning to play during those recordings.
While there are risks involved in any purchase that does not entitle the seller to categorically screw the buyer. Restaurants can't serve you undercooked chicken. Real estate companies can't sell you a house that has radioactive waste in the basement without telling you. Car dealers can't sell you a car without disclosing known problems. The music cartel should NOT be allowed to sell CD's without letting you sample the music first for which many people use downloads. In a book store you can read all you want before buying. Funny that in a CD store you can't do the same. Wonder why?
OK, fine. Then I want my money back for all of the piece-of-shit CD's I purchased because I had no means of sampling the music first due to them prohibiting me from listing before buying.
After that, I want my money back from the illegal price fixing that has gone on for years. Then throw those execs in jail because after all, if you are willing to do the crime you should be willing to do the time.
Additionally I want my money back on crap CD's I bought that had noise added in to the songs to make MP3's I burned useless. I wanted to listen to those in my MP3 player while I excersised but apparently they knew better.
Finally, I want an apology from the execs themselves for all of the misery I have to endure when flipping through the radio channels and I hear the SAME music for the past 5 years with an occasional new tune thrown in for a little spice.
I agree that we geeks do not and should not fall under the same category as regular users. I have seen some geeks with the most insecure configurations on the planet so that doesn't always say much. "You use telnet to connect to your home box? What about SSH?" "I'll get around to it eventually."
We treat new customers like newborn babies until they can prove that they know the difference between a packet and a pocket.
Thus far 100% of our users haven't needed anything but port 80. I know that won't always be the case but I can tell you this--not ONE of our customers got hit by the latest rounds of worms. I would know in about one second if they did.
"ISP's job is to run the damn line to my house and make sure their routing tables, mail, dns etc are working correctly, nothing more, nothing less."
I disagree completely. I run an ISP so I KNOW what my job is. I know that sooner or later ISP's will be hit with the same legal liability as any other SERVICE PROVIDER. For example a hotel. They offer you a service to stay at their facility. Would you stay at a hotel that didn't have locks on the doors?
The only thing that has prevented and is still preventing lawyers from coming after ISP's for failed duty to protect customers is that they don't fully understand the techno beast that is the Internet. That is changing. Expect there to be laws that REQUIRE ISP's in the US at least to firewall anyone that is a customer and to keep detailed records of their Internet habits.
Besides, if ISP's blocked miscellaneous outgoing port connections how far would those nasty worms get?
Unless you need to rebuild the kernel you wouldn't need to reboot. A new patch comes out for IIS? Reboot.
Under linux, just recompile and restart the service with new module.
Rebooting without being onsite is a bad bad bad idea. Restarting a service without being onsite isn't as big of a deal especially if you have some redundancy built in for connecting (second server to connect with any variety of methods).
A deadbolt on a door isn't a realistic solution to lock a house down but it does serve a good purpose.
Office circumventing that security method is exactly like installing a doorbell only to find that the front door pops open regardless of whether it is locked or not when you press the doorbell button.
How does a doorbell and front door relate to this? Neither is adequate security but both were easily circumvented by a third party device that SHOULDN'T interfere. Blame should not be waived just because the quality of the measure in place was good or bad.
There does come a time when rewriting is easier and more practical than patching. For example when Linus rewrote USB drivers from scratch instead of trying to work with Inaky's driver.
Microsoft SHOULD rewrite their entire OS. Did they do that with Longhorn? I seem to recall something about that. My memory seems to recall that is exactly what they did with IIS.
There is little doubt they should start over on software such as Windows 98 instead of patching but since that is an old and soon to be retired product it doesn't make economical sense.
In the F/OSS world it can be done at any time since there is no profit motivation. In the end, this is exactly why F/OSS is the way of the future for software and why companies such as SCO and Microsoft loathe and fear it. Don't like a piece of software or it is really buggy? Rewrite from scratch. Take five years to finish it if necessary because there are no stock holders screaming about it (Public distribution companies not included).
I have had conversations with many women and done a little research and it turns out that the point of a ring is to kind of repay for the bride's family paying for the wedding.
On a day to day basis it does indeed degenerate into a pissing contest of sorts for women but that is irrelevant to the fact that they want a nice ring.
Having said that, my girlfriend has made it abundantly clear that she would be happy with whatever I got her. Funny that I get no friction when I mention a really nice ring. Go figure.
I think of it as kind of like a really nice pair of shoes--does she REALLY need them? No way in hell. Will she be just a little happier with them? Of course. I can live with that.
"It means being off the net completely for days . .."
If you design a network properly this is 100 percent untrue. You might have to endure the time necessary to plug new hardware into your router and firewall but that is it.
If the following holds true:
1) Router with room for second WIC 2) Router with room for second ethernet out 3) Firewall with room for second ethernet in 4) Firewall with true DMZ NAT'ed servers
Then all you have to do is:
1) Add second WIC to Router 2) Add second ethernet interface to Router 3) Add second ethernet out interface to Firewall 4) Route new T1/T3/whatever addresses to Firewall 5) Add NATing for new IP's at firewall to point to existing servers 6) Change DNS records 7) Change any VPN's or other tunnels to new address space 8) Decommision old line 9) Remove old routes
Slashdot Mirror
It isn't FUD. There are parts of some controls and such in VB6 that are either undocumented or the documentation is just plain wrong.
I do not know what Microsoft's policy is on such matters, but I do know that without paying for support, you probably won't get it. Even then, they might point you to VB.net as opposed to addressing the problem.
I don't know about now, I created that sig back at some point when they were suggesting that home users would pay $199 for a home computer running Linux. They may have since changed that policy.
Anyone know what the latest is?
I registered some too but thought the slashdot effect might kill my server and I decided to let it be.
All things being equal, Linux is more stable and secure than Windows. Microsoft has more ISV's and hardware vendors supporting them.
Given that dichotomy, what market forces and justification will make RHEL on the desktop a more viable choice than Windows or any other desktop OS?
Actually Galadriel says something to the effect of (paraphrased) "These things you have seen will come true if you fail." Or something like that. In other words, I think that Jackson and company created that to look like general destruction and not what those "in the know" would recognize as a scene from the Scouring.
At this point I have resigned that the movies are a loose adaptation and not very true to what the books are themselves. This is to be expected since to really gain a feel for the books it would have taken a movie about the Hobbit and each movie being like 5 hours long.
That is the price of creating a distro that will sweep the enterprise market. There is no precedent to point to anything otherwise.
Never underestimate the desire for people to be lazy. Never underestimate the destructive forces that high entry-barriers have on markets. If the enterprise is riddled with Linux OS inconsistency, do not expect companies to develop for them.
You either have a standard or you don't. There is no middle ground. Without a standard to develop for, the state of Linux will remain unchanged in the desktop space.
True geeks will remain unaffected as their favorite homegrown distro will still have the same level of commercial applications it does now--virtually none compared to Windows.
Yeah, not quite sure what that word is supposed to be. Well, I can invent my own so I just did :)
I am sure I meant "assertions" as opposed to that.
Still, I most certainly do run my own company and my spelling is actually quite good. Lucky for many that being a good speller is not a prerequisite for either heading a company or success.
Neither does my being head of a company require your confidence or approval therein.
"Maybe so, but geeks (me included) will want choice."
From the story header: "at which Bruce Perens suggested that in order to get Linux to the enterprise desktop"
Thankfully, that excludes geeks like you (and me). Business has absolutely zero to do with such small quibbles on whether or not we geeks have choice and everything to do with what is a good business decision. There are points at which the two intersect but they are not either mutually inclusive or exclusive.
Human tendency especially among the informed/educated is to think to one's condition. "That isn't what I would want/do so it will fail." That line of thinking is usually not conducive to successful businesses.
"How will the business people know that UserLinux is the one true distro any more than they know that Debian is the one true distro now?"
Because if everyone in the Linux community unites behind one version for the defacto business standard, then they will know. Keep choice for those that want it. For those that don't give a flying four-door (insert your favorite four-letter) about whether it uses KDE or Gnome or OOo/Hancom/KOffice or for that matter what the hell it runs. They just want something that works.
In fact, while I am at it, this is what businesses want (I know because I run one):
Web Browser (again, flavor DOES NOT MATTER)
-Related browsing technology (Java, Flash, etc)
-No Pop ups
E-mail
-No Spam
-Easy attachments, etc.
-Free from virus concerns
Office Software
-Maximum compatibility desired (MS Office, Word Perfect, etc.)
Custom/Special Application compatibility
-This is the big showstopper
-Like it or not, there are businesses that will NOT consider Linux because simple apps like ACT 2000 will not work
-Wine/Codeweavers integration is a must
Central Authentication/Access Control
-It may already exist. I honestly don't know.
-Must work as simple or close to Windows Domains
-Must dictate what applications/security/settings are available to users that log in
-Must provide a central point to push new apps/bug fixes
-Should NOT require physical access to a machine EVER except for system problems
Windows Update-like mechanism (See Red Hat Up2Date)
-Again, this should be automatic to the end-user but updates pushed by admins (after proper testing, etc)
-Updates should be pushable by group (so that prioritization is possible)
Integrated Virus protection/Firewalling
-Just because a plethora of Viruses/Worms are not out there now doesn't mean they won't be later
-The Firewall settings should be set upon logging in (see the above)
Hardware Support
-No, we businesses don't care if we have the source for a scanner driver as long as it is free and works
-Again, do not confuse your condition to that of a business. Free first. OSS second.
ISV/Vendor Support
-Widely document the standard system
-Provide migration documents for migrating Windows apps to Linux
-Provide documents to train programmers that are Windows-centric to think on a Linux-level
There you go. My rendition of what it needs. I am sure there is more but those are the things I have encountered in Enterprise computing that without, Linux will NEVER unseat windows in a reasonable amount of time.
Feel free to tear my assertations apart.
"The average home user cannot use linux."
That's funny because I have had the most computer illiterate people sit down at my RH9 box with no windows open and figure out how to browse the web quite effectively with no instruction from me at all.
"Mozilla is not up to the task, sorry. It doesn't even render most webpages properly (including such common ones as YAHOO FINANCE)."
I don't think you can categorically say that without some level of proof. And "render . . . properly seems to be an either/or kind of statment. I argue that there are some things that are irrelevant such as font size so long as it does not effect the browsing experience. The only website I have found to date that doesn't work right at all with Mozilla is www.sprintpcs.com after you log in to manage your account.
I feel quite confident that the web pages that don't work right are those that seemed to ignore web standards completely.
"Openoffice is slow and bloated, as well as difficult to use."
Lets start out with the "slow and bloated" comment first. Define slow. Slow to start? Slow to print? That is completely ambiguous at best and not completely bound in truth as far as my experience goes. I give you that it is slow as Christmas to start. After startup completes I find it to be faster than Word.
Difficult to use? I don't find that to be true. Neither did a friend of mine that wouldn't know the difference between a word processor and a spreadsheet application. He used OpenOffice to write a research paper with no complaints. I even asked him if it worked ok.
"Linux is not ready for the home user."
I do not agree for 100% of home users. I think it is ready for a good portion of them already. With each passing release of kernels and distros that gap closes more.
"At least on Windows, when I uninstall a program, it uninstalls its libraries (for the most part)."
I do not see that uninstalling programs is any more thorough on Windows than Linux. They are both scripted and thus the uninstalls are only as good as the uninstall scripts. I have seen some that did nothing more than delete icons on Windows. About the only thing I can say about Windows uninstalling is that most (not all) software makers make the uninstall program easy to find.
And don't even get me started about dll's that refuse to allow themselves to be removed without doing some registry editing and/or booting to a command prompt only in Windows.
Bottom line is that I have had my RH9 box running since RH9 was release and it has not crashed once. At all. The only time it has been rebooted was due to power outages.
Besides, your conclusion is that home users are prepeared to deal with all of the nasty viruses/worms and all the problems they cause yet they cannot deal with Linux?
I guess technically it IS nanotech. I just meant human-made non-organic (or viral) nanotech.
Or maybe a twice a year innoculation against cancers.
Now if they could program these things to seek and destroy cells infected by various VD's and put an end to one of the biggest dangers of sex then the world would be a very interesting place indeed.
I have long suspected that the best cures for the worst diseases would be "surgical strike" techniques instead of the all or nothing approach of radiation and chemotherapy type solutions.
I wouldn't be surprised to see nanotech get involved in the action at some point.
Anyone looking to invest in companies for the long term should pay attention to companies that do this type of work.
Being that I operate a WISP I know the frustration felt when someone offers something for free that you are selling. It is extraordinarily difficult to convince people your service is better. They don't always understand the reason they should use us.
They don't comprehend that we guarantee them the bandwidth they pay for. They don't always understand that they are more secure on our network than than they might be on the local coffee shop's network. It doesn't always occur to them that we offer tech support when the coffee shop may or may not and at quite possibly an inferior quality.
If someone can invent a business model that makes running an ISP with free service to all customers profitable I will gladly get on that boat. Until then I am sad to say that we must charge for our service. Our backbone connection isn't free. Neither are our servers, routers, switches, firewalls, WAPs and personnel. Make all of that free then we can talk about what should and should not be free.
Actually you can't use a 24db antenna with a 100mw card. The maximum EIRP allowed under the FCC for point to point is 8 watts (39db) and 4 watts for point to multipoint. If you use 100mw (20db) input into a 24db gain antenna, your total EIRP will be 44db or 25 watts. Not legal at all. Also not healthy to stand in front of the antenna for more than a few minutes.
"Alternately, listen to word-of-mouth from others before you buy the CD in the first place."
Where do those word-of-mouth sources get their information from? Someone has to buy the CD and be plagued with crap. Besides, they play one track on the radio that might be really good and then the rest of the album sounds like the band was learning to play during those recordings.
While there are risks involved in any purchase that does not entitle the seller to categorically screw the buyer. Restaurants can't serve you undercooked chicken. Real estate companies can't sell you a house that has radioactive waste in the basement without telling you. Car dealers can't sell you a car without disclosing known problems. The music cartel should NOT be allowed to sell CD's without letting you sample the music first for which many people use downloads. In a book store you can read all you want before buying. Funny that in a CD store you can't do the same. Wonder why?
Hmmmm. Not a bad idea. Didn't someone do that somewhere already and win?
OK, fine. Then I want my money back for all of the piece-of-shit CD's I purchased because I had no means of sampling the music first due to them prohibiting me from listing before buying.
After that, I want my money back from the illegal price fixing that has gone on for years. Then throw those execs in jail because after all, if you are willing to do the crime you should be willing to do the time.
Additionally I want my money back on crap CD's I bought that had noise added in to the songs to make MP3's I burned useless. I wanted to listen to those in my MP3 player while I excersised but apparently they knew better.
Finally, I want an apology from the execs themselves for all of the misery I have to endure when flipping through the radio channels and I hear the SAME music for the past 5 years with an occasional new tune thrown in for a little spice.
I agree that we geeks do not and should not fall under the same category as regular users. I have seen some geeks with the most insecure configurations on the planet so that doesn't always say much. "You use telnet to connect to your home box? What about SSH?" "I'll get around to it eventually."
We treat new customers like newborn babies until they can prove that they know the difference between a packet and a pocket.
Thus far 100% of our users haven't needed anything but port 80. I know that won't always be the case but I can tell you this--not ONE of our customers got hit by the latest rounds of worms. I would know in about one second if they did.
"ISP's job is to run the damn line to my house and make sure their routing tables, mail, dns etc are working correctly, nothing more, nothing less."
I disagree completely. I run an ISP so I KNOW what my job is. I know that sooner or later ISP's will be hit with the same legal liability as any other SERVICE PROVIDER. For example a hotel. They offer you a service to stay at their facility. Would you stay at a hotel that didn't have locks on the doors?
The only thing that has prevented and is still preventing lawyers from coming after ISP's for failed duty to protect customers is that they don't fully understand the techno beast that is the Internet. That is changing. Expect there to be laws that REQUIRE ISP's in the US at least to firewall anyone that is a customer and to keep detailed records of their Internet habits.
Besides, if ISP's blocked miscellaneous outgoing port connections how far would those nasty worms get?
Unless you need to rebuild the kernel you wouldn't need to reboot. A new patch comes out for IIS? Reboot.
Under linux, just recompile and restart the service with new module.
Rebooting without being onsite is a bad bad bad idea. Restarting a service without being onsite isn't as big of a deal especially if you have some redundancy built in for connecting (second server to connect with any variety of methods).
A deadbolt on a door isn't a realistic solution to lock a house down but it does serve a good purpose.
Office circumventing that security method is exactly like installing a doorbell only to find that the front door pops open regardless of whether it is locked or not when you press the doorbell button.
How does a doorbell and front door relate to this? Neither is adequate security but both were easily circumvented by a third party device that SHOULDN'T interfere. Blame should not be waived just because the quality of the measure in place was good or bad.
There does come a time when rewriting is easier and more practical than patching. For example when Linus rewrote USB drivers from scratch instead of trying to work with Inaky's driver.
Microsoft SHOULD rewrite their entire OS. Did they do that with Longhorn? I seem to recall something about that. My memory seems to recall that is exactly what they did with IIS.
There is little doubt they should start over on software such as Windows 98 instead of patching but since that is an old and soon to be retired product it doesn't make economical sense.
In the F/OSS world it can be done at any time since there is no profit motivation. In the end, this is exactly why F/OSS is the way of the future for software and why companies such as SCO and Microsoft loathe and fear it. Don't like a piece of software or it is really buggy? Rewrite from scratch. Take five years to finish it if necessary because there are no stock holders screaming about it (Public distribution companies not included).
Believe it or not some companies actually use excel spreadsheets in their supply chain control. Toyota does. Office 2000.
I have had conversations with many women and done a little research and it turns out that the point of a ring is to kind of repay for the bride's family paying for the wedding.
On a day to day basis it does indeed degenerate into a pissing contest of sorts for women but that is irrelevant to the fact that they want a nice ring.
Having said that, my girlfriend has made it abundantly clear that she would be happy with whatever I got her. Funny that I get no friction when I mention a really nice ring. Go figure.
I think of it as kind of like a really nice pair of shoes--does she REALLY need them? No way in hell. Will she be just a little happier with them? Of course. I can live with that.
Perhaps any and all that believe that should read this:
http://www.perl.com/language/misc/virus.html
"It means being off the net completely for days . . ."
If you design a network properly this is 100 percent untrue. You might have to endure the time necessary to plug new hardware into your router and firewall but that is it.
If the following holds true:
1) Router with room for second WIC
2) Router with room for second ethernet out
3) Firewall with room for second ethernet in
4) Firewall with true DMZ NAT'ed servers
Then all you have to do is:
1) Add second WIC to Router
2) Add second ethernet interface to Router
3) Add second ethernet out interface to Firewall
4) Route new T1/T3/whatever addresses to Firewall
5) Add NATing for new IP's at firewall to point to existing servers
6) Change DNS records
7) Change any VPN's or other tunnels to new address space
8) Decommision old line
9) Remove old routes